stuck kid
n.— «Ms. Sudders explained that when she was commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, the term “stuck kids” was used to describe the phenomenon of children being backlogged and kept in emergency rooms because there weren’t enough psychiatric beds for them. The term was later used for children in psychiatric beds who were not being moved into the community.» —“’Stuck kids’ are on the decline” by Lisa D. Welsh Worcester Telegram & News (Massachusetts) Dec. 18, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1916, a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania printed a fanciful item about a local gathering with a guest list that included, among others, Miss Ella Vader, Mr. Ray Zor, and other punny names. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
A psychiatric home health worker is curious about the use of nuthouse to mean “a mental health facility.” This term goes back to the turn of the 20th century. The word nuts itself once had an extremely positive connotation, referring to anything as...