ENG-1992 — Page 195

SOCIAL WELFARE

A wide range of child welfare services is provided. The Child Protective Services Unit caters for abused children. The Adoption Units are responsible for local and overseas adoption of orphans, abandoned babies and children freed for adoption. The Central Foster Care Unit promotes foster care services in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the Child Custody Services Unit carries out statutory duties in respect of supervision or care arising from custody and guardianship matters handled in Family Courts or the High Court. Chuk Yuen Children's Reception Centre and Sha Kok Children's Home provide for the temporary care of children aged up to eight. The first hostel for girls run by the department, Wai Yee Hostel, started its operation in November 1991. The hostel, located in Tuen Mun, has facilities for 100 girls aged between seven and 18 who are in need of care and protection.

In addition to the work carried out by the Social Welfare Department, subvented welfare organisations also provide residential child care services in children's homes, homes and hostels for boys and girls, foster homes and small group homes.

Child care centres are available for children under the age of six. Such centres must comply with standards laid down in the Child Care Centres Ordinance and Regulations. They are subject to registration and inspection. At the end of the year, there were 34 807 places in day child care centres and 591 places in residential child care centres. New modes of child care services were being tried out as experimental projects to meet the changing needs of families. A flexible and temporary form of child care service on half day or full day basis when carers stay away from home for short periods of time was introduced in March 1992. Families with low incomes and social needs for children to attend a child care centre may make use of the Fee Assistance Scheme in meeting nursery fees. A total of 7 710 children were receiving fee assistance at the end of the year.

Home help service, subvented by the government and operated by non-governmental organisations, provides meal services, personal care and household work service to those who need it. At the end of the year, there were 64 home help teams.

Family aide service, as a complement to casework service, is provided by four family services centres of the Social Welfare Department and non-governmental organisations to develop clients' home management skills and child care techniques and to help families attain self-reliance.

The Department operates a telephone hotline service, answering enquiries and providing professional advice to the public on social welfare matters.

Family life education aims to improve the quality of family life through the promotion of interpersonal relationships and social consciousness which may help to prevent family breakdowns and social problems. There are 59 family life education workers providing a wide range of family education programmes in the territory. The 1991-2 family life education publicity campaign adopted the main theme of Happy Marriage and Responsible Parenthood. The campaign aimed at arousing public awareness of the importance of harmonious marital relationships and effective parenting. A wide variety of publicity media, including television, posters, booklets on effective parenting, bus advertisements, a slogan competition, an exhibition and an opening event were organised. In support of the centralised publicity campaign, promotional and educational activities were organised by social workers at the district level. The Family Life Education Resource Centre plays a significant role in supporting social workers in promotional and educational work by providing resource materials and audio-visual equipment on loan.

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