Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1966-1967 — Page 30

have been completed by September 1967 where the more effective instruction given nowadays will make its full impact. The curriculum now includes electrical and radio repairs. The educational section bene- fits by attendance of welfare supervisors at in-service training courses run by the Education Department, and classroom training complements social activities and pure recreation-all with the intent of strengthening character and adjustment to at least reasonable conformity with the demands of the society to which the boys will return. Features of the home that emphasize the healthy normality of its atmosphere include its flourishing scout troop and wolf cub pack and its energetic partici- pation in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.

39. Under the present law a boy is committed for a maximum period of five years' training, or until he is 18, whichever comes the sooner, although he must stay for a minimum of two years in the home, after which he is eligible to be discharged on licence. On average boys stay between two and a half years, so that the period of licence or aftercare has to form an integral part of the rehabilitation process. Supervision after discharge is the responsibility of two designated area officers from the Probation Service, one on the Island and one in Kowloon, who therefore actually work in the areas where the boys have their homes. They are the aftercare agents of the home's superintendent, and they keep in close touch with him. There is a caseworker in the home who prepares an individual aftercare plan for each lad; he also studies and counsels boys with special behaviour problems. During the year there were thirty one admissions to and nineteen discharges from the Castle Peak Boys' Home. Discharges on licence are now being granted at a relatively early stage of training, despite the difficulties that the after- care officers meet in finding suitable work or school places for the boys, and that some boys find in retaining a post. It has been proposed that the normal minimum statutory period of residence in Castle Peak Boys' Home should be reduced from two years to one and that there should be provisions for earlier release on licence and for absolute discharge. During the year 17 boys were discharged on licence. Discharge on licence does not mitigate staff shortages least of all in a shift system of working, and proposals to ease these by the creation of a reasonable, but not over-lavish, establishment were still being examined at the end of the year. If approved they would go a long way to easing the serious staffing difficulties which have been experienced for many years and give the boys who are committed to the Home a better chance of benefiting from their committal.

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