necessary; a casework centre is also maintained at Shek Kip Mei, and a second centre has now been opened at Tung Tau which also provides employment introductions, rehabilitation and other amenities which, it is hoped, will help those who have just come out of Prison to become integrated into the community. The Society also maintains three hostels for those who are homeless or need special initial support. It is managed by an active voluntary committee and has a chief welfare officer and nine caseworkers. The Prisons Department, the Police Force and the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs also each provide an observer or adviser for this Society's Committee, and the Prisons Department has now taken over the administration of the Government subvention, without in any way reducing the Social Welfare Department's friendly involve- ment. The welfare contribution is reflected in the increasing casework services to ex-prisoners on which the Society has so properly concentrated over the years, with careful selection of staff, proper adjustment of case- loads and planned staff development. Considerable interest has also been shown in the Society's determination to play a significant part in the rehabilitation of drug addicts, so many of whom are found in the prison population.
CHAPTER V
REHABILITATION AND THE HANDICAPPED
REHABILITATION
52. The past year has been marked by growing public awareness of the problems of the disabled and the need to make adequate provision for them. This was particularly reflected in many of the comments of the voluntary agencies and the press on the Social Welfare White Paper and in references by His Excellency the Governor and some of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council during the budget debate in February and March. As in public assistance and other departmental duties, so also in providing for the welfare of the handicapped (which is the purpose of the Special Welfare Services Section of the Department), the emphasis lies on individual training and rehabilitation rather than on doles or institutional care. Mr H. A. JONES, ILO Asian Regional Adviser on Vocational Rehabilitation, completed a six weeks' advisory mission in Hong Kong on 13 March, in which he studied the possibilities for co-ordination and development of vocational rehabilitation work in the Colony. He had opportunities for discussions with senior officers of the main Government departments concerned and with representatives of
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