ENG-1992 — Page 194

SOCIAL WELFARE

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offence punishable by imprisonment, to perform unpaid work of benefit to the community and to receive counselling and guidance from a probation officer. The scheme has been extended to serve all magistrates in the year.

The Young Offender Assessment Panel, run jointly by the Social Welfare Department and the Correctional Services Department, provides magistrates with a co-ordinated view on the most appropriate programme of rehabilitation for convicted young offenders aged between 14 and 25.

The Social Welfare Department operates seven residential institutions with a total capacity of 636 places, each with a slightly different training programme to cater for the needs of the residents. Educational, pre-vocational and character training are provided to assist juvenile offenders to return to the community as law-abiding citizens. The Begonia Road Boys' Home and Ma Tau Wei Girls' Home consist each of a remand home and a probation institution for juvenile offenders and girls in need of statutory care and protection. The Pui Yin Juvenile Home is a remand home for boys. The Pui Chi Boys' Home provides residential training for juvenile probationers. The O Pui Shan Boys' Home and Castle Peak Boys' Home are reformatory schools for boys aged under 16 on admission. The Kwun Tong Hostel is a probation hostel for young men aged between 16 and 21.

Plans are in hand to improve residential and training facilities, including the conversion of a youth centre and hostel into a probation home for girls, building a new workshop block at O Pui Shan Boys' Home and the relocation of the Castle Peak Boys' Home and Begonia Road Boys' Home to Sha Tin and Ngau Chi Wan respectively.

In addition to the work carried out by the Social Welfare Department, several subvented non-governmental organisations also provide hostel, employment, casework and volunteer services to help ex-offenders and young people with behavioural problems to reintegrate into the community.

Family Welfare

The Social Welfare Department and a number of non-governmental welfare organisations provide a variety of family and child care services with the overall objective of preserving and strengthening the family as a unit through helping individuals and families to solve their problems or to avoid them altogether.

The department operates a network of 30 family services centres while the subvented welfare sector operates 23 such centres. The major services provided in family services centres include: family casework and counselling; care and protection of children and young persons aged under 21; and referrals for schooling, housing, employment and financial assistance.

Wai On Home, run by the Social Welfare Department and Harmony House, run by a non-governmental organisation, together provide short-term accommodation with 80 places for women and children who may be victims of domestic violence, and for young girls at risk.

The department continues its efforts to tackle the problem of street sleeping. It has set up outreaching teams dedicated to helping street sleepers. It also assists non-governmental welfare organisations to run temporary shelters, urban hostels and day relief service for street sleepers. The department is identifying suitable premises to set up more hostels for the homeless in the urban area.