In 1982 when Randall Hopley was 17 and facing sexual assault charges for molesting pre-pubescent children, British Columbia had "no adequate" inpatient or outpatient treatment programs for sexual offenders, wrote a psychiatrist at the time.

More than 29 years later, B.C.'s criminal justice system now offers treatment programs to young sexual-offenders at eight out-patient clinics.

But what currently exists for the province's 134 teen sex offenders isn't good enough and is "patchy" at best, say critics. Even those who run the government programs say more can still be done.

"We're far ahead. We've come a long way, but we've still got a ways to go," said Andre Picard, director of Youth Forensic Services for the province of B.C., a government agency that treats teenaged sexual offenders.

Hopley, 46, has been charged with kidnapping three-year-old Kienan Hebert from his home in Sparwood, B.C. at the end of August. There have been no allegations of sexual assault in the case.

Court documents recently released show Hopley was accused of sexually assaulting children as a teenager, and a psychiatrist who interviewed him at the time wrote about the lack of available treatment options.

"Unfortunately, B.C. has no adequate inpatient or outpatient treatment programs for sexual offenders which could be very helpful in this case," wrote Dr. R.J. O'Shaughnessy.

Medications were available but had "been approved only experimentally," wrote O'Shaughnessy, adding Simon Fraser University offered treatment which was "very limited in scope."

O'Shaughnessy said he didn't even know if Hopley would have been accepted into the program.

O'Shaughnessy declined to comment on the issue when he was contacted by The Canadian Press.

But Picard said O'Shaughnessy later played a key role in developing treatment programs for young sexual offenders during the mid-1980s.

"Dr. O'Shaughnessy was instrumental in helping shape the expertise in the field," he said.

By the mid-1980s, said Picard, the province had set up the Youth Sexual Offence Treatment Program, which now assesses and treats 134 youth at eight outpatient centres located in Metro Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Prince George, Kamloops and Kelowna. Contract workers provide services in smaller communities.

A five-bed, in-patient centre also assesses youth, Picard said.

The youth are referred to the program from the courts or a probation officer, and a majority have experienced a combination of physical, emotional or sexual abuse, he said.

The average treatment program for youth is about two years and recidivism rates are similar to those experienced in the United States, where about seven per cent of those who go through treatment reoffend.

Glori Meldrum, founder of Little Warriors, an Alberta-based national organization that educates adults about child sexual abuse, said such programs are important because youth can be rehabilitated if they are treated early enough.

Treatment can break the cycle of sexual abuse and stop youth from becoming serial offenders, she added.

"But are the resources in place to help these young offenders? No," said Meldrum who questioned how much progress has been made across the country since the early 1980s when she, herself, was sexually abused.

Meldrum said she believes offenders older than 18 are "done like dinner," will always be sex offenders and should never be around children.

William Thorne, Hopley's current lawyer, said he doesn't know what programs were available for his client back in the 1980s, but questioned whether the eight out-patient centres are enough.

"I believe that's inadequate," said Thorne. "There just isn't enough help available for people with these very serious problems."

The public would be better served if more programs were available, instead of the "Band-Aid approach that we seem to have these days," he said.

British Columbia needs to assess what services exist, identify any gaps and move ahead with the appropriate programs, said Robert Gordon, director of SFU's school of criminology.

Gordon said he believes youth can be reformed but what exists is patchy and he questioned if the public is willing to pay more taxes to fund the programs.

"If somebody asked the average person on the street whether they'd be prepared to pay another $5 a year in their income tax to have a series of programs that dealt with juvenile sex offenders, I think some people might say 'yes' but others might say, 'You know, that's a cup of Starbucks. I'm not giving up my coffee for a day."'

As far as B.C. has come in treating youth sexual offenders, gaps still exist, and dealing with youth before they enter the criminal justice system is an "issue," said Picard.

He said some organizations that treat 10- and 11-year-old victims of sexual abuse, violence or post-traumatic stress haven't known what to do when children exhibit inappropriate sexual behaviour.

Youth Forensic Services has offered training sessions and discussions to those organizations, said Picard, but when his organization learns about criminal activity, officials recommend charges.

He said that provides the leverage needed to keep teenagers in treatment.

"Even when you have the expertise, this is not magic," said Picard of treating youth sexual offenders. "We don't have a magic wand to fix those problems, but we have techniques, we're learning.

"It's continuously evolving as we want to learn more and more. But the field is relative small and relatively new."