ENG-1959 — Page 236

196

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

in co-operation with voluntary organizations. Over two hundred candidates applied, forty were selected and thirty six passed the final examination, of whom eighteen returned to their former em- ployment and the rest were gradually absorbed in child welfare work.

The Society for the Protection of Children operates five centres at which poor mothers are taught to look after their children properly and are given special food for them; over 5,000 children are regularly cared for at these centres.

The Protection of Women and Juveniles Ordinance, 1951 confers extensive powers for the custody, guardianship and care of children in need of protection on the Director of Social Welfare. Under the Ordinance, girls who are adopted by Chinese custom must be registered with the Department and the Director automatically becomes their guardian; there were 1,705 registrations at the end of 1959. The customary adoption of sons is also recorded if the parents so wish; 1,441 such cases were on record. In addition, the Director has power to declare himself the legal guardian of girls who are in need of care and protection and the Juvenile Courts may make an Order to the same effect in respect of any child or young person. There were 237 statutory wards of the Director by virtue of these provisions at the end of the year, 181 girls made wards by declaration and 56 juveniles (23 girls and 33 boys) made wards by Juvenile Court order. The welfare of many other children is the concern of the Department, either temporarily while their parents are in prison or in hospital or owing to ill treatment or family difficulties; or semi-permanently pending adoption, employ- ment, marriage or majority; many of these are visited in their homes while others are in institutions with which close liaison is maintained. At the end of the year the total including wards was almost 7,700.

The Adoption Ordinance, 1956, which provides for adoption by Order of the Supreme Court is increasingly used; in 1959, 97 Orders were made, while 142 applications were still in process.

The Department has co-operated closely with two voluntary or- ganizations, International Social Service Incorporated and Catholic Relief Services, in arranging for the adoption of children abroad, principally into Chinese families in the United States. In some cases the Director, as legal guardian, was given special authority