Immigration Minister Tony Burke says he is working to get an 11-year-old boy out of a Tasmanian detention centre as quickly as possible.
The Sri Lankan child is being held at the centre at Pontville, near Hobart, along with two older cousins.
Mr Burke visited the centre last week at met the boy.
He says he wants to move the boy out of the centre quickly, but a community detention spot must be found for the child and his cousins.
"I'm reluctant to break up that family group," he said.
The Pontville centre has been used to detain almost 300 unaccompanied minors from places like Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iran and Sri Lanka.
Mr Burke says he cannot pretend the setting is ideal for younger children long-term.
"I had a look at where they are staying in Pontville and they're separate to everybody else," he said.
"They've got a little setting where it is bedrooms for the three of them. I'm not pretending it is what we would want as permanent accommodation.
"But right now we want to wait till we can get a community place so we can move all three people together."
Lawyer Madeleine Ogilvie represents some teenagers in Pontville and says getting them out of the centre is only part of the problem.
"Each one of them ought to have access immediately to independent legal advice," she said.
Psychiatrist and asylum seeker advocate Professor Louise Newman says there are serious mental health risks for children in detention.
"We start to see children showing quite clear signs of trauma," she told AM.
"Some children becoming very child-like, if you like - regressing to an earlier developmental stage. Others starting to feel angry and frustrated."
Professor Newman says children are not in a position to understand the situation they are in.
She says it is much more appropriate for those children to be placed in foster families.
"I think most people would not want to see children who are young in an environment where they're likely to be feeling frightened," she said.
Since visiting the Pontville facility on Friday, Mr Burke has approved the release of 18 young Pontville detainees, who will be released into community detention around the country.
Almost 800 unaccompanied minors are seeking asylum in Australia and 335 of those children are having their claims assessed in the community.
abc.net.au
