SOCIAL WELFARE
183
authority by the Supreme Court to consent to adoption overseas through the good offices of one or other of these organizations. By the end of the year 64 children had left Hong Kong for legal adoption into a family abroad and 260 children were waiting to leave. The work of these organizations materially assists Hong Kong in making provision for the increasing number of children without a family or a home.
Moral Welfare. No large city is free from prostitution, but in Hong Kong the problem is aggravated by the conditions of a major seaport. The predominant cause is economic, that is to say, the great difficulty of earning a living.
The law provides extensive sanctions against the exploitation of women, especially young girls; it is the task primarily of the Police to enforce these provisions, and of the Women's and Girls' Section of the Social Welfare Department to seek to rescue the victims of exploitation, so that they may be equipped to earn an honest living and to find a place in society. Efforts are particularly directed towards the younger girls who are discovered in raids on brothels or referred by the Social Hygiene Clinics of the Medical Department, while they are still prepared to welcome advice and training for a normal life.
At the end of the year a branch office was about to be opened in Kowloon, designed to render the advice of the trained case- workers of this Section more readily accessible to those who need it.
The Department is fortunate in being able to entrust young prostitutes, in suitable cases, to the care of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd who are specially trained for this rehabilitation work and can accommodate girls who need education and vocational training in a sympathetic environment at Pelletier Hall, an institu- tion which was opened in 1956. During the year the Sisters have increased the capacity of this Home from 80 to 128 and plan to raise it to about 200 in the future. The girls, who are normally under the age of 18 on entry, are educated and taught how to earn a living and run a home of their own. Forty five girls were admitted to the Home during the year and twenty seven dis- charged, mainly to employment in factories.
The Women's and Girls' Section of the Department also advises and helps unmarried mothers and their children; for them a