SOCIAL WELFARE
188
Services for Young People
The overall objective of welfare 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.
At year's end, the government subvented NGOs ran 200 children and youth centres providing a variety of programmes and activities for young people's personal and social development. The department is modernising the centres to make them more attractive to young people through improving the fitting-out standard and provision of furniture and equipment.
School social workers are provided for all secondary schools to identify and help students whose academic, social and emotional development is at risk. At the end of the year 284 school social workers were serving a student population of 423 580.
The outreaching social work service seeks to reach out and provide counselling and guidance to young people who do not normally participate in conventional social or youth activities and who are vulnerable to undesirable influences. In December 1998, there were 25 teams serving priority areas with higher youth population and juvenile crime rate.
Integrated teams for young people began operating in October 1994. They provide children and youth centre service, outreaching social work service, school social work service and, where possible, family life education under one management structure. At the end of 1998, 25 teams were operating.
Services provided by the eight uniformed organisations and the Hong Kong Award for Young People Scheme offer young people opportunities to join organised activities with progressive training programmes for the development of character and leadership and to help them become responsible members of the community. In 1998, 137 000 young people benefited from the service.
The SWD and NGOs also provide other welfare services to attend to the special needs of those young people who are at risk. The Community Support Service Scheme, comprising two projects operated by the NGOs and one by the SWD, has been set up since 1994 to assist those young people who have broken the law or are at risk. At the end of the year, the two NGOs projects served 829 cases and the SWD project 1277 cases. The Against Substance Abuse Scheme provides prevention programmes to occasional substance-abusers under the age of 21 with the ultimate goal of helping them develop healthy lifestyles and discourage them from resorting to drugs in tackling their problems. By year's end, 1 120 young people had benefited. An SWD subvented youth hotline also helps young people at risk by offering timely intervention through counselling. In 1998 the hotline handled 31 012 calls.
On the recommendation of the Working Group on Services for Youth at Risk (Working Group), a three-year pilot project was introduced in 1997 to help identify young students with special developmental needs by way of a screening tool. Appropriate preventive programmes will be provided for these young people. Furthermore, to identify and provide assistance to young night-drifters, two youth