Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1967-1968 — Page 39

82. The increase in the registration of adopted sons was believed to have been prompted by the need to obtain a registration certificate from the Department to facilitate applications for visas to migrate to countries such as Canada and the United States of America with their adopted parents. The decrease in the registration of female adopted children may be due to the fact that many of them have not yet come forward to complete the procedure as statutorily required through personal ignorance.

CHILDREN'S RECEPTION CENTRE

83. The Chuk Yuen Children's Reception Centre continues to care for children under 8 years old, irrespective of their mental or physical condition, who may have been found abandoned or wandering and are in need of immediate care and protection.

RESIDENTIAL CARE FOR PROBLEM GIRLS

84. Close liaison is maintained with two voluntary homes operated by the Good Shepherd Sisters whose congregation is a world-wide charitable organization and who are dedicated to the training, preserva- tion and rehabilitation of teenage girls with a personal or family problem.

85. Pelletier Hall provides residential care, education, domestic and vocational training for some 160 teenage girls from 14-18 who have agreed to enter the Home to undergo a course of training. In classes, the girls are given some elementary education which includes English conversation, simple book-keeping, typing and commercial art; for a trade, they are taught such handicraft as tailoring, sewing, knitting, cooking, hairdressing, laundry and baby care.

86. The second home operated by the Sisters is the Mary Stanton Centre (Marycove) for girls at Brick Hill, Aberdeen, with maximum capacity for 150 girls in residence and 100 day attendants. This opened its doors in March 1967 when the first stage of construction work was completed.

87. It is a centre designed specifically for the training of girls from 12 to 15 years of age who have developed behaviour problems; who are being exploited or ill-treated by their parents or step-parents; whose parents are in an undesirable occupation; or who may have been victims of indecent assault.

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