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Social Welfare
problems. In 2014, SWD's publicity included two series of short animations and a new set of television and radio Announcements in the Public Interest. SWD also operates a departmental hotline to provide service information, counselling and other forms of assistance.
At the secondary level, 65 Integrated Family Service Centres and two Integrated Services Centres provide a spectrum of preventive, supportive and remedial family services.
At the tertiary level, specialised services, including crisis intervention, are provided for cases of domestic or sexual violence, family crisis or custody dispute.
Services for Children
A total of 3,676 residential places and various welfare services are provided for children and young persons who need care or protection owing to serious family, behavioural or emotional problems. The SWD also works with three NGOs accredited under the Adoption Ordinance to arrange local or overseas adoption for children abandoned by their parents or whose parents are unable to support them.
SWD also provides day child care services to support parents who cannot take care of their children temporarily because of work or other reasons. The SWD and the Education Bureau subsidise some stand-alone child care centres and some kindergarten-cum-child care centres to provide full-day service. The SWD also funds 434 Occasional Child Care Service places and 1,230 Extended Hours Service places at these centres. Furthermore, SWD subsidises the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project, which arranges volunteers to provide flexible child care service to needy families.
Social Security
The CSSA and Social Security Allowance (SSA) schemes form the mainstay of Hong Kong's social security system, supplemented by three accident compensation schemes: the Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation (CLEIC) scheme, the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance. (TAVA) scheme and Emergency Relief. These schemes are administered by 40 Social Security Field Units and two centralised offices.
The CSSA Scheme
The non-contributory CSSA scheme is means-tested and applicants must satisfy a residence requirement. It provides cash assistance to people suffering from financial hardship to enable them to meet basic needs. At year-end, there were 253,054 CSSA cases involving 381,307 beneficiaries. In 2014, the scheme's total expenditure was $20.6 billion, an increase of 2.6 per cent over the previous year.
The Portable CSSA scheme allows elderly people who have received CSSA continuously for at least one year to continue receiving assistance in Guangdong or Fujian Province if they choose to retire there.
Employment Assistance Programmes
The SWD's Integrated Employment Assistance Programme for Self-reliance (IEAPS) assists able- bodied unemployed CSSA recipients aged 15 to 59 and single parents and child carers on CSSA
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