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SOCIAL WELFARE
Residential training is provided in five correctional institutions established under various ordinances. Academic, prevocational, social and recreational training is de- signed to facilitate the character reform and social readjustment of juvenile offenders and young people in care.
The Castle Peak Boys' Home and the O Pui Shan Boys' Home are reformatory schools catering for juvenile offenders aged between 14 and 16 and seven and 17 respectively. In these schools, relatively long-term treatment programmes are designed for the residents, and after-care services are provided upon discharge.
The Ma Tau Wai Girls' Home and the Begonia Road Boys' Home are multi- functional residential institutions for short-term training. They serve as places of detention for those held in remand before appearing in court, as probation homes for probationers requiring residential treatment, and as places of refuge for juveniles considered by the court to be in need of care and protection.
Due to the inadequate facilities of the Ma Tau Wai Girls' Home, a new home replacing it has been built at 51 Sheung Shing Street, Kowloon. The home, which became fully operational in September, 1978, is a purpose-built complex for 144 girls. The Kwun Tong Hostel caters for male probationers, aged between 16 and 21 years, placed under residential order by the court. Residents are given career guidance and training on social responsibilities, budgeting and saving, and most have outside em- ployment during the day.
Apart from the services provided by the division, voluntary agencies such as the Hong Kong Juvenile Care Centre, the Society of Boys' Centres and the Rennie's Mill Student Aid Project also provide care and training for children who come from broken homes or have behavioural and other problems.
Emergency Relief
For those who are affected by disasters, emergency relief is given in the form of hot meals, milk powder for infants, and other basic essentials such as blankets, sleeping mats, eating utensils and toilet accessories. In addition, injury, burial and death grants from the Emergency Relief Fund are paid to victims or their families.
During the year assistance was given to 5,885 registered victims involved in 116 disasters. Payments made from the Emergency Relief Fund amounted to $2.2 million. Relief was also given to 6,387 Vietnamese refugees immediately after their arrival in Hong Kong.
Training of Social Workers
The Training Section of the Social Welfare Department provides in-service training, refresher courses and staff development programmes to social welfare workers employed by the government and voluntary agencies. The School of Social Work at the Hong Kong Polytechnic provides a two-year full-time training course for front line social workers, a three-year part-time course in social work for Form 5 graduates, a one-year course for child care workers, and other part-time day-release courses for social workers. The Director of Social Welfare is the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the School of Social Work.
The department's Training Section operates a demonstration nursery which serves the dual purpose of providing day care for 100 children aged two to five years as well