Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1968-1969 — Page 8

new social centres, a pilot treatment centre of the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts in the urban areas, and a new form of home for the aged in the Wah Fu Estate. Expenditure from the Fund amounted to $3.2 million.

4. New projects completed during the year include the Ham Tin Estate Welfare Building, which began to function in December 1968 and was formally opened in January 1969; the World Rehabilitation Fund Day Centre at Kwun Tong, which was opened in September 1968 for the accommodation and training of 340 disabled persons; and the Kai Nang Training Centre and Hostel, which was opened in March 1969 for the accommodation and training of 200 mentally retarded children and adults. Planning was further advanced on other projects and those expected to be completed in 1969-70 include the Yuen Long town hall, a new correctional institution at O Pui Shan (Kau Wa Keng) for 140 boys, and the Lady Trench Day Nursery and Training Centre.

5. Parallel with these new trends of growth were measures taken to improve and extend various services of the Department. Its reorganization in 1967 aimed, amongst other things, at making its family services more readily available to the public in a comprehensive form: thus the establishment of a network of 9 District Offices and Family Services Centres, each designed to provide a comprehensive range of services suitable to meet a wide variety of family problems, resulted in a marked increase in applications to the department for assistance and advice; the number of new cases dealt with in 1967-68 increased by 3,882 to 11,663 in 1968-69, and this number is expected to increase even further with the establishment of additional branch offices in the estate welfare buildings.

6. Estate welfare buildings are similar in design and construction to annex buildings developed for schooling and these are being planned and built by Government at the rate of one to every 50,000 residents in the newer resettlement estates. They will replace ground floor and rooftop accommodation previously available for occupation by voluntary welfare organizations in scattered locations and afford opportunities for the better co-ordination and more effective provision of various kinds of welfare services. The first building of this kind, completed in November 1968 at the Ham Tin Resettlement Estate and opened in January 1969, has six storeys which are used for the pro- vision of a non-profit-making day nursery, a children's library, space

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