ENG-1969 — Page 209

SOCIAL WELFARE

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Estate in Tsuen Wan in September, and the third in Sau Mau Ping in October. Three additional buildings are under construction and planning for yet another three is under way. These centres are being provided in a ratio of one to every 50,000 residents. They are each of six storeys and provide accommodation for non-profit day nurser- ies, libraries, group and communal activity areas, family planning clinics, general out-patients clinics and departmental family case- work offices.

PROBATION AND CORRECTION

The probation and correction services of the department are concerned with the supervision of offenders on probation and the operation of juveniles in institutions. The probation service has a staff of 50 trained officers working with the courts. At the end of the year a total of 1,955 persons were under supervision on probation and a total of 484 social investigations had been carried out at the request of the courts, including cases referred for welfare assistance of some kind. The correctional service operates five institutions: The Castle Peak Boys' Home is a reformatory school for 150 boys aged 14 and below 16; the O Pui Shan Boys' Home, opened in June 1969, accommodates 140 boys aged below 14; a combined remand home and probation home in Yau Yat Chuen in Kowloon accommodates a total of 160 boys; and another combined home in Ma Tau Wei Road accommodates 45 girls. The fifth institution is a probation hostel at Kwun Tong for young men between the ages of 16 and 21 years who are ordered to reside there as a condition of their probation order. These young men go to work daily and pay for their upkeep at the hostel from their salaries. Voluntary welfare organisations which take a leading part in helping to prevent the spread of juvenile delinquency are the Hong Kong Juvenile Care Centre and the Society of Boys' Centres, which give residential training to those who need help in finding a place in society or in overcoming difficulties of behaviour and personal relationships.

TRAINING AND RESEARCH

The development of effective social welfare services depends a great deal on the employment of qualified and trained social workers. Professional social work training at the academic level, which is