is compulsory, whereas the registration of adopted sons is voluntary. Under the same Ordinance the Director of Social Welfare is empowered to assume guardianship of children in need of care and protection. At the end of the year some 1,500 girls and 1,200 boys were registered under the Ordinance, slightly less than in the previous year (See Appendix 7).
35. Social awareness of the importance of family planning in Hong Kong has been spreading steadily as a result of the patient efforts of the Family Planning Association over more than ten years. It is now operating forty-two clinics and much useful guidance has been given to over 60,000 women during the past year.
36. In spite of severe pressure of work the Child Welfare Section of the Department has continued to maintain close liaison with voluntary agencies, many of which receive an annual Government subvention. These agencies provide accommodation for many children who are found by the Department to need care and protection for varying periods; by far the largest number needing such care during the past year, 427 children, entered the Po Leung Kuk, an old-established Chinese institution the Superintendent of which continues to be an officer seconded from the Department at the request of the Committee of the Kuk (See Appendix 8). Particulars of institutions providing residential and day care are listed in Appendix 9.
37. It is interesting that the number of children adopted in Hong Kong or leaving for adoption abroad (173 plus 189) was more than double those abandoned (141) during the year. At the same time one babies' home was converted to day care and total numbers in these homes dropped by over 100. Of the 2,650 babies and children in residential care, over 2,000 have parents or one parent and will return home when the need for such care ceases, so that there is no question of them being adopted. The general inference which may be drawn from these figures is that unless the number of children abandoned increases sharply, it is unlikely that adoptions will continue at the present rate for very long.
CHAPTER IV
MORAL WELFARE
38. The Women and Girls Section is concerned with seeking to rehabilitate young prostitutes and with caring for unmarried mothers,
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