ENG-1971 — Page 193

SOCIAL WELFARE

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suitability of the adoptive parents. The majority of adoptions are now arranged between families; the number for abandoned children and orphans, for whom the department is responsible for finding suitable homes either locally or overseas, has decreased considera- bly. This is probably due to the decrease in the number of babies being abandoned and the improvement of day care facilities which in turn assist the parents to keep their own children. A total of 47 proposed adoptions were investigated during the year.

Children and women in moral danger are assisted through counselling and guidance for the individual and his or her family, as well as through the relief of such immediate anxieties as care and accommodation for unmarried mothers, and through voca- tional training. This work is done by three reputable voluntary welfare organisations, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the Po Leung Kuk and the Salvation Army, in addition to the department's two day-training centres.

In the field of rehabilitation, the aim of the department is to provide disabled people, where possible, with the opportunity of becoming independent and productive members of the community. This generally involves three phases: treatment to help the disabled to adjust to their disabilities; vocational training to encourage them to make the fullest possible use of their residual skills; and their restoration to society through appropriate training or place- ment in remunerative employment. Rehabilitation services are provided at 17 centres and institutions, and are supplemented by the work of more than a dozen voluntary welfare organisations. The continuing expansion of these services was marked by the opening during the year of the recreation centre for the deaf run by the Y's Men's Club of Victoria and the Chai Wan training centre for the mentally retarded run by the Save the Children Fund. Various improvements were also made to existing rehabili- tation institutions. Success in rehabilitating the disabled is illus- trated by the fact that the department was able to find suitable employment for 267 people out of 436 applying for jobs in 1971. The department is continuing with its programme of providing estate welfare buildings. One at Sau Mau Ping will be opened in 1972 and another two buildings at Lam Tin and Tsz Wan Shan are under construction; a third at Pak Tin is being planned. The provision of these centres is based on a ratio of one to every 50,000 residents. They are each of six storeys and provide accommodation for non-profit-making day nurseries, libraries, group and communal