Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1965-1966 — Page 9

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

All our final resolutions are made in a state of mind which

is not going to last.

PROUST

DURING the past year two words-planning' and 'development—which are not unknown in other aspects of Hong Kong life-appeared time and again in the vocabulary of social welfare. It would be unfair to conclude that conscious planning was absent from the almost feverish develop- ment of social welfare services over the past fifteen years; but in the face of almost overwhelming need (for which no plan could have been made) first things have been placed first, and only in the past very few years has it been possible for fact-finding, analysis and forecasting to be placed among the top priorities. The trend toward introspection was given special impetus early in 1965 when the White Paper 'Aims and Policy for Social Welfare in Hong Kong' was debated in the Legislative Council. The intense interest aroused by the White Paper after its publication was followed by lively, and on occasion heated, discussion in the Legislative Council and it became apparent that some (although not all) of the deficiencies which were thought to be in the White Paper related not to matters of aim or policy but to the absence of detailed plans for the future development of social welfare services. Fortunately, those who looked in vain for blueprints or scale drawings in the White Paper could be assured that comprehensive planning by the Social Welfare Department in conjunction with the voluntary welfare organiza- tions would commence as soon as the broad principles were agreed.

2 It is perhaps not too much to say that joint planning-real joint planning-between official and voluntary welfare organizations became feasible only within the past year or two. The response by agencies to their compelling duty to reduce the backlog of need has paid off in the successful rehabilitation or re-establishment in independent living of many thousands of clients, although the end is still not in sight; the numbers of qualified social workers grows encouragingly; and the volun- tary agencies place increasing trust and responsibility in their coordinat- ing organization-the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. These de-

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