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SOCIAL WELFARE
of 1996, there were 560 places in foster care service, 816 places in small group homes and 1 493 places in children's homes, boys' and girls' homes and hostels.
Child care centres provide day-care facilities for children under the age of six. All child care centres were registered under the Child Care Centres Ordinance and Regulations. The ordinance will be amended to regulate childminders and mutual help child care groups in order to strengthen protection of young children. Occasional child care service was expanded to take care of children for short periods of time in order to free their parents or carers to attend to urgent matters. The Fee Assistance Scheme assists low-income families with a financial need to pay child care centre fees.
Medical Social Service
The department collaborates with the Hospital Authority in the provision of medical social services to help patients deal with their personal and family problems arising from illness or disability.
Care of the Elderly
Care in the community, and by the community, is the guiding principle for the planning and development of services for elderly people. During the year, the government continued to implement the recommendations of the Working Group on Care for the Elderly made in 1994.
Residential care is provided for old people who, for personal, social or health reasons, have to be looked after in a residential setting. At the end of 1996, there were 963 hostel places, 6 531 home for the aged places and 8 398 care-and-attention places. In addition, community support services were provided to enable the elderly to live in the community for as long as possible. At the end of the year, there were 184 social centres, 24 multi-service centres, 26 day care centres, 17 respite care places, two volunteer worker programmes, eight older volunteer programmes, two outreaching teams, one holiday centre, one pool bus service and a structured networking system for the elderly in need. About 450 000 senior citizen cards had been issued. Financial and housing assistance continue to be provided for those in need.
The Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance came into full operation on June 1, 1996. It provides for the control of these homes through licences or certificates of exemption administered and enforced by the Licensing Office of Residential Care Homes for the Elderly.
Services for Young People
The overall objective of services for young people is to help those aged between six and 24 to develop themselves into mature, responsible and contributing members of society. At the district level, 16 youth offices of the department co-ordinate and strengthen existing youth groups and community organisations, promote new groups and help them develop programmes to meet community needs.
By year's end, the non-governmental organisations ran 215 children and youth centres. These centres provide a variety of programmes and activities for the personal and social development of young people.
Social workers are posted to secondary schools to identify and help students whose academic, social and emotional development is at risk. Twenty-two additional school social workers were provided in 1996. At the end of the year, 272 school social