pre-vocational and trade training classes, group discussions, scouting and Duke of Edinburgh's Award activities, sports and recreational activities, all of which are directed towards character training and social adjustment.

After-care Programme

80. When a youngster leaves a reformatory school, he is released on licence under the supervision of an after-care officer of the Division. Before being formally discharged, he is boarded out for a short period so as to enable him to settle down more easily when the time comes for him to go home. The Five-Year Plan for Social Welfare Development includes a recommendation for the establishment of an independent aftercare unit. There are already two aftercare officers attached to the correctional institutions, who are active at all stages of the rehabilitation process. The period of aftercare normally varies from 18 months to 2 years according to individual needs. Details of the numbers by age groups of boys supervised after discharge from reformatory schools are at Appendix 6.13.

81. The Begonia Road Boys' Home, a multi-purpose institution, has a capacity of 164. Not only does it take boys who have been arrested or remanded, or who have been committed for a maximum of six months* detention under the Juvenile Offenders Ordinance, Chapter 226, but it also serves as a Home for boys on probation whom the court may order to reside at an approved institution. Usually this is because their own homes are so unsatisfactory that supervision alone might not succeed. The Home is also declared as a place of refuge under the Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance and provides temporary shelter for boys in need of care.

82. The Ma Tau Wei Girls' Home, which has been expanded to cater for 70 girls, is a multi-purpose institution serving a similar func- tion to that of the Begonia Road Boys' Home. The Home provides residential treatment for girls who are placed on probation with a special condition of residence for a period of not more than one year. In addition, it is used as a place of refuge under the Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance, Chapter 213, for girls who, while having behavioural problems, are not necessarily criminal offenders. Although fewer women and girls commit crimes, usually their problems are more complicated, and very often their moral as well as delinquent behaviour requires adjustmest, The programme of activities provided

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