They are the aftercare agents of the Home's superintendent, and they keep the closest liaison with him; it is arguable whether or not they would be more effective if they were resident members of his staff. There is a caseworker in the Home who prepares an individual aftercare plan for each lad; he also studies and counsels any boys with special behaviour problems. During this year there were thirty-five admissions to and twenty-seven discharges from the Castle Peak Boys' Home. The propor- tion of discharges on licence continues at a higher, though regulated, level and they are being granted at a much earlier stage of training, despite the occasional difficulties that the aftercare officers meet in finding suitable work or school places for the boys-and the more occasional difficulty that some boys find in retaining a post once it has been found for them. Unfortunately, discharge on licence does not mitigate staff shortage, least of all in a shift system of working.
45. The combined institution called the Begonia Road Boys' Home is extensively used and is frequently full to capacity. Some adjustments have been made in the multi-purpose functioning of the Home in the light of the first year's experience. Not only does it take in boys who have been arrested or remanded, or have been committed for a maximum of six months' residential training under the Juvenile Offenders Ordinance, but it serves equally as a home for boys on probation whom the court may order to reside at a stated place, usually because their own home conditions are considered so unsatisfactory that supervision alone might not succeed. This means that on the remand side there has to be adequate security without a negative prison-house atmosphere, whereas on the probation side a constructive semi-disciplined programme of adjustment is followed in conditions which ought to appear 'open'. The balance of emphasis requires considerable understanding and co-operation on the part of the staff, particularly those without social work training. A total of just under three thousand, three hundred and fifty juveniles were admitted, and the average daily muster reached a hundred and thirty-four. Nine hundred reports were submitted to Juvenile Courts on boys remanded for inquiries. These are based on observation of the boys by the super- visors who are responsible for them. They give information about their conduct, attitude, response to treatment in the Home and behaviour generally, and they make a valuable addition to the probation officers' reports in painting the social picture of each boy for the courts in true colours and perspective.
46. It is already obvious that Begonia Road Boys' Home must be ready to accept a markedly growing number of physically and mentally
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