ENG-1966 — Page 44

REVIEW

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also indicate how funds could be utilized to prevent and cure the basic causes of the social ailments which research revealed.

EXPANDING SERVICES

The past decade has seen expansion and development in nearly every aspect of social welfare. More modern and constructive techniques have been introduced and better facilities have been provided. The number of new buildings and institutions itself testifies to the widening range. Probation and remand homes for both boys and girls, and a probation hostel for those able to work but requiring some residential care, complement the continuous work of the probation officers in all the courts, where they act very much as 'social welfare' agents. Care and education is now available for almost all known blind children of school age. A factory, hostel, sheltered workshops, an assessment and adjustment centre, an advanced training centre and clubs and training groups-have all been established for the blind during the past few years and are indicative of the concern felt by both the government and the volun- tary agencies for the mentally and physically disabled and handi- capped. The deaf, too, have their schools, training classes and clubs.

The problem of the mentally handicapped has at least been recog- nized, with the Education Department running experimental classes, the Medical Department planning a home for severely retarded children, and the Social Welfare Department and one voluntary agency providing daytime care and social training, though admittedly on a limited scale. The physically disabled have also much more hope than they would have had 10 years ago, for the intervening years have seen the establishment of special schools and hospital schools for children, a training centre, a large rehabilitation centre, sheltered workshops, and a residential settlement for paraplegics. Neither have the aged been forgotten, and since 1962 alone more than 800 extra places have been provided for these in decent sur- roundings.

A noticeable feature of the period is the provision of non-profit- making day nursery and similar facilities for children whose mothers are out at work, the number of places having been increased from 320 in 1957-8 to 13,000 in 1966. Women and girls in moral danger have benefited from the creation of a modern home, which provides