which had been created ten years earlier in the Secretariat of Chinese Affairs became the Social Welfare Department. With the establishment of the Department, the statutory functions and powers associated with social welfare matters were transferred to the Director of Social Welfare. An index of the relevant legislation-the most important of which relate to the care and protection of children, adoption, and probation and juvenile correctional institutions-is at Appendix 1. The Department attempts to achieve the broad goal of human well-being through social welfare services covering a wide spectrum of need:
-the need of families facing economic want because of separa- tion, illness, bereavement, imprisonment, or a disparity between family need and family income
-the need of the disabled for guidance and practical assistance
on the road back to independent living
-the need of young people for planned activities which put to test their developing powers of mind and muscle, and feed their growing appetite for competence, challenge and creativity -the need of individuals, whose own resources and capacity for self-sufficiency fail in time of crisis, for the controlled concern of the professional counsellor
-the need of people everywhere-however isolated, individualis- tic or independent-to satisfy their striving for social fulfilment through significant relationships with other, working together in groups and communities for community betterment and social progress.
The Department also provides the secretariat for the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee on Social Work Training, the Social Work Training Fund, and the Community Relief Trust Fund Committee; the composition and terms of reference of which are set out in Appendix 2.
6 The partnership of official and voluntary social welfare effort in Hong Kong has matured steadily in recent years and notably in the year under review. Much of the credit for the increasing effectiveness of this partnership must go to the organizations which as members of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service have established that council firmly as the effective voice of hundreds of professional and administrative workers, volunteers and community leaders who comprise the voluntary segment of social welfare in Hong Kong. The days of crisis when an uncritical welcome was extended to any organization willing to fill a
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