180
SOCIAL WELFARE
A wide range of child welfare services is provided. The Adoption Units are responsible for the local and overseas adoption of orphans, abandoned babies and children available for adoption. The Central Foster Care Unit promotes foster care services in Hong Kong, while the Child Custody Services Unit carries out statutory duties in respect of super- vision or care arising from custody and guardianship matters handled in Family Courts or the High Court. The Child Protective Services Unit caters for abused children. The Working Group on Child Abuse advises the government on measures to tackle the problem of child abuse.
The Chuk Yuen Children's Reception Centre and the Sha Kok Children's Home provide temporary care to young children who may be abandoned or whose families are unable to provide care.
The department also runs the Wai Yee Hostel, which is a home for teenage girls with behaviour problems and who are in need of care and protection.
In addition to the department's work, subvented welfare organisations also provide residential child care services through children's homes, homes and hostels for boys and girls, foster care and small group homes. The 1991 Social Welfare White Paper stipulated that residential services are to be developed on the principle that a family setting is the best environment for the healthy development of a child and should be the preferred choice over an institutional setting, particularly for those under teen-age. While there will continue to be a diversity of options, so that children can be placed in the type of residential facility that best suits them, non-institutional care in the form of foster homes and small group homes will take precedence over institutional care in future developments. In 1993, there was expansion in both foster care places, from 240 to 480 places, and in small group homes, from 17 to 32 homes. Opportunities are also taken to convert existing large children's homes from institutional into non-institutional facilities when the need arises for the reprovisioning of these homes. Two large children's homes run by non-governmental organisations were in the process of being converted into small group homes during the
year.
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 Regulations. They are subject to registration and inspection. At the end of the year, there were 35 778 places in day child care centres and 577 places in residential child care centres. New modes of child care services were being tried out as experimental projects to meet the changing needs of families. Seventy-five day nurseries provide an occasional child care service which is a flexible and temporary form of child care service on a half-day or full-day sessional basis for families who are unable to take care of children for brief periods. Families with a low income and a social need for their children to attend a child care centre, may make use of the Fee Assistance Scheme in meeting nursery fees. A total of 8 550 children were receiving fee assistance at the end of the year.
The Social Welfare Department operates a telephone hotline service, answering enquiries and providing professional advice to the public on social welfare matters.
Medical Social Service
The Social Welfare Department continues to provide medical social services in public hospitals and clinics to help patients and their families deal with the personal and family problems arising from illness and disability.