SOCIAL WELFARE
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law-abiding citizens. The Social Welfare Department operates seven institutions specialis- ing in this work, each with a slightly different training programme to cater for the needs of different sexes and age groups. Following a review of educational programmes in these institutions, the department is planning to introduce major improvements to the curricula, teaching standards and facilities for academic teaching and vocational training. The Begonia Road Boys' Home and Ma Tau Wai Girls' Home are combined remand and probation institutions for offenders, aged under 16 on admission or under 18, in need of statutory care-and-protection. The Pui Chi Boys' Home, opened in November 1984, has helped to alleviate overcrowding in the Begonia Road Boys' Home, and, similarly, a temporary remand home has been provided in the Tai Tam Gap Centre to help improve conditions at the Ma Tau Wai Girls' Home. The Castle Peak Boys' Home caters for boys aged under 16 on admission who need a longer period of training after conviction, while the O Pui Shan Boys' Home is a reformatory school for offenders aged under 13 on admission. The Kwun Tong Hostel is a probation hostel for young men aged between 16 and 21. There are longer term plans to improve residential facilities by construction of a new girls home in Tuen Mun and the reprovisioning of the Castle Peak Boys' Home.
The Social Welfare Department also operates an after-care unit which helps offenders rejoin society by preparing them before they leave reformatory schools and supporting them after they are discharged. Besides the work carried out by the Social Welfare Department, several welfare agencies also provide services to help young offenders and young people with behavioural problems to reintegrate into the community.
Family Welfare Services and Child Care
The Social Welfare Department and a number of welfare agencies are involved in the provision of family services which have the objective of maintaining and strengthening the family unit through helping individuals and families to solve problems and prevent them arising. The department operates a network of 22 family service centres and the number of active cases in December was 21 437. Services provided under this programme include counselling on personal and family problems; care and protection of young people aged under 21; residential and foster care for children up to the age of 21, day care for children under six; referrals for schooling, housing, employment, financial assistance, legal advice, medical attention, home help and, where appropriate, placement in institutions for elderly or disabled persons.
A number of statutory responsibilities arising from the Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance, the Offences Against the Persons Ordinance, the Marriage Ordinance, the Guardianship of Minors Ordinance and the Matrimonial Causes Ordinance lie with the Social Welfare Department. The department provides supervision and/or residential accommodation for young people aged under 18 whose parents and guardians fail to exercise proper care of them and for those under 21 who have no parents or guardians or who are adopted other than by a court order.
Child care service continued to be a focus of particular attention in 1985. In November, the Sha Kok Children's Home began operation as an extension to the frequently overcrowded Children's Reception Centre run by the department for the temporary care of children aged up to eight. The Child Protective Services Unit provides services for children who have been, or are suspected to have been, abused, whether physically, psychologically or sexually. The Social Welfare Department's Adoption Unit co-ordinates adoptions both within Hong Kong and overseas - the latter with the assistance of the local branch of the International Social Service. During the year, there were 410 legal adoptions, 90 proposed