Scottish health boards which continue to treat children with psychiatric problems on adult wards have been warned they may be breaking the law.
The Mental Welfare Commission found 134 young people were treated with adults last year, despite legislation which entitles them to more appropriate care.
The commission said early treatment was vital to a child's long-term recovery.
The Scottish Government has pledged to reduce child admissions to adult wards by 50% by next year.
The Mental Health Act 2003 states every health board must place children with psychiatric problems in appropriate care.
There has been a 24% drop in children admitted to adult wards, but in its annual report, the Mental Welfare Commission said more needed to be done.
It found 90% of the 142 admissions to non-specialist services were to adult psychiatric wards.
A total of 21 children did not receive any specialist psychiatric help and a similar number had no educational support.
Specialised treatment
Dr Donald Lyons, director of the commission, said: "We made the monitoring of admissions of young people under 18 a priority, not just because of their vulnerability in adult settings, but because the care and treatment a person gets in early life can have such long-term consequences on individual recovery and welfare.
"Being admitted to an adult ward as a young person means that you are less likely to continue to access education, less likely to receive specialist clinical input and less likely to have an allocated social worker."
Dr Lyons said that although it may not always be possible to place a young person on a children's ward, he or she should be guaranteed specialist treatment.
The commission said it planned to visit child and adolescent mental health services across Scotland over the next year to see if improvements had been made.
Kathleen Marshall, Scotland's commissioner for children, said it was "vital" that young people with mental welfare care needs could access treatment and services that were appropriate.
She added: "This means reducing admissions to adult wards and providing more specialist support for those who are admitted to adult wards.
"It also means making sure that the often troubled young people in children's secure units are able to access mental heath assessment and adolescent facilities where that would be more appropriate and helpful for them."
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