SOCIAL WELFARE
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In addition to the work carried out by the Social Welfare Department, subvented welfare agencies also provide residential child care services in children's homes, homes and hostels for boys and girls, foster care and small group homes.
Child care centres are available for children under the age of six. Such centres must comply with the standards laid down in the Child Care Centres Ordinance and Regula- tions. They are subject to registration and inspection. At the end of the year, there were 31 828 places in day child care centres and 632 places in residential child care centres. New modes of child care services are being tried out as experimental projects to meet the changing needs of families. Families with low incomes and who have a social need for children to attend a child care centre may apply to the Social Welfare Department for assistance in meeting nursery fees. A total of 7 800 children were receiving fee assistance at the end of the year. In September 1990, an improvement was introduced to the Fee Assistance Scheme whereby a larger number of low-income families can benefit from a greater subsidy.
Family life education aims to improve the quality of family life through the promotion of interpersonal relationships and social consciousness which may help to prevent family breakdowns and social problems. The 1990 Family Life Education Publicity Campaign with the theme Responsible Parenthood and Child Care was targetted at teenagers and their parents. A wide variety of publicity media, including TV, radio, posters, booklets on _communication between parents and children, and a territory-wide lyric writing contest were organised. In support of the centralised publicity campaign, promotional and educational activities were organised by social workers at the district level. The Family Life Education Resource Centre plays a significant role in supporting social workers in promotional and educational work by providing audio-visual equipment and resource materials.
Upon completion of the demand study on home help service in late 1990, the findings were used as a basis for future development of the service. The family-aide service was launched in four family services centres in December to develop clients' home management skills and child care techniques and to help families attain self-reliance.
Medical Social Service
To assist patients and their families to deal with personal and family problems arising through illness and disabilities, medical social service is provided by social workers stationed in 105 medical social service units in government hospitals and clinics. With the implementation of new provisions in the Mental Health Ordinance, on December 29, 1989, medical social workers in the psychiatric service took up new statutory duties which include the supervision of conditionally-discharged patients, guardianship cases and cases put to the Mental Health Review Tribunal. To cope with these new duties and to ensure effective delivery of service, additional posts have been created.
Care of the Elderly
The 1979 White Paper laid down 'Care in the Community and by the Community' as the guiding principle for the planning and development of services for the elderly. A wide range of community support services is provided to help families look after their elderly members and to enable old people to live in the community for as long as possible. Such community services include home help, canteen services, community education, day care, and social