Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1961-1962 — Page 14

rise in accommodation and facilities for the day-care of children below primary school age.

24. The decline in the abandonment of babies, illustrated by the figures in Appendix 4 which covers the last three years, may be tentatively attributed in some degree to improved economic conditions in Hong Kong and perhaps also to the increasing impact of the social services generally upon its less fortunate citizens. Over three quarters of the babies abandoned were girls. It is gratifying to be able to report that nearly all these children have since been adopted into families in Hong Kong or overseas. Indeed, applications for the adoption of children, especially from overseas, are now becoming too numerous to be met in full.

25. Two international voluntary agencies, International Social Service and Catholic Relief Services, continued to render valuable assistance in arranging overseas adoptions; during the year 133 children went to the United States, 23 to Britain, 1 to Canada, 2 to New Zealand and 1 to Singapore. Temporary foster-care in local homes for periods of some three months served in many cases as a valuable means of preparing young children for entry into families overseas. A large proportion of the adoptive parents especially in the U.S.A. were Chinese.

26. In the last six years since the Adoption Ordinance came into force, legal adoption has tended gradually to displace adoption under Chinese custom. During the year under review there were 182 applica- tions for legal adoption in Hong Kong and 201 Adoption Orders were granted by the Supreme Court as against 144 in the previous year, an increase of almost 40%; at the same time, there was a welcome drop in the number of applications pending at the end of the year (see Appendix 5). In the same period 25 boys and 74 girls were adopted under Chinese customary procedure; in these cases, registration with the Department is voluntary for boys, but compulsory for girls under the Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance. On registration, the Director of Social Welfare becomes the legal guardian of such girls until they reach the age of 21 or are married. The total number of children on the customary adoption register at the end of the year was 2,914.

27. Following the trend of developments, plans were being made during the year to convert one private orphanage into a day-nursery and five more day-nurseries were opened. This was a valuable step in the right direction, but there remains a growing need for additional

8