4.29
The Government is conscious that those developments, whilst benefiting the majority of young people, must be supplemented by more intensive personal guidance and help for a minority group whose individual needs and problems cannot be met by the basic community services and who are not attracted to organized activities. Personal social work among young people is designed particularly to help those aged between 6 20, with the overall objective of reducing and preventing anti-social and delinquent behaviour. To this end, it is proposed to develop those services which will reach young people at school, in their homes and in society at large to improve understanding between them and their families and to inculcate a sense of responsibility and moral values.
4.30
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With the introduction of nine years of free and compulsory education for all, our schools should reach all young people during the most formative years of their lives. The school therefore provides a good base for extending personal guidance and help to those young people who require such services. The Government intends to expand School Social Work to cover all schools but this expansion will be limited to some degree by the forecast shortage of professional social workers. The front-line work in primary schools is therefore being carried out, on an experimental basis, by Student Guidance Officers who are teachers who have received training in counselling, guidance and social work techniques, although pupils with serious social problems will be referred to professional social workers. These Student Guidance Officers will also be supported by educational psychologists and educational counsellors. If the scheme is found successful, it will be extended to all primary schools by the end of 1980. School social work in secondary schools will be carried out by professional social workers and is expected to cover all secondary schools by the end of 1981.
4.31
The role of young people within the family will be one of the main themes of Family Life Education, the general aim of which is to preserve and strengthen the family as a unit. This broader approach has proved to be an effective means of reaching a large population and the Government intends, in conjunction with the voluntary sector, to provide a comprehensive Family Life Education programme in Hong Kong by 1982. The Social Welfare Department will be responsible for the overall direction and coordination of Family Life Education services and for organizing major programmes and publicity campaigns on a territory-wide basis. This will be achieved by making staff in each district office specifically responsible for Family Life Education in close co-ordination with the voluntary sector. At the district level, Family Life Education services will be provided mainly by the voluntary agencies.
4.32
The purpose of Outreaching Social Work is to help young people when they are out- side the sheltered environment of home or school and thus are most at risk. 16 geographical areas have been provisionally identified as having a high priority for this service and teams of trained social workers will be operating in all of these areas by early 1979. This is, however, a field where there is as yet no means of accurately assessing demand for the service. Moreover, out- reaching social work is perhaps one of the most exacting tasks for a social worker. Hence expansion must depend on the supply of specialist skills. The work of the teams assigned to the 16 geographi- cal areas will be monitored with future developments being determined on the basis of periodical
assessments.
Community and Youth Services
4.33
The aim of community building is to build a society in which there is mutual care, respect and responsibility. In the social welfare field, community halls and community centres, both inside and outside housing estates, will remain the most visible expression of this aim. To ensure that the facilities are fully utilized, these centres will remain open throughout the week, including Sundays and public holidays. 14 community centres, 11 estate community centres and 23 community halls are planned to be built over the next five years, most of them in the New Towns and other developing population centres. This is in addition to local centres for children and young people, at present being provided at the rate of 11 children's centres and 11 youth centres each year.
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