Note 1 Apart from the standalone child care centres under subvention of SWD, child care services for children aged below three are also available in kindergarten-cum-child care centres under the administration of the Joint Office for Pre-primary Services, Education Bureau. As at September 2010, there were about 21 500 child care centre places. Additionally, private standalone child care centres provided about 2 300 places as at 31 March 2011.
Note 2 A mutual help child care centre with 14 places was closed in February 2011.
 
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PERIOD
Adoption
5.3

In pursuant to the provision of the Adoption Ordinance, Cap. 290, SWD has extended invitation to accept applications made by any body of persons/NGOs to become accredited bodies for providing local adoption service. On 1 January 2010, International Social Service Hong Kong Branch, Mother’s Choice Limited and Po Leung Kuk were accredited to provide local adoption service. They have processed a total of 26 local adoption applications in 2010-11. These three NGOs, which were also accredited earlier to make arrangements and proceed with placements of inter-country adoption for infants in Hong Kong, have processed a total of 42 overseas adoption applications in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

 
 
Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project
5.4

To assist families who cannot take care of their children temporarily because of work or other social reasons, SWD continues to strengthen the provision of flexible child care services and the spirit of mutual help at the neighbourhood level in the community. Under the three-year pilot Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project (NSCCP) first launched in 2008-09, there was one project in each of the 11 SWD districts providing a minimum of 440 child care places with 286 home-based child care places and 154 centre-based care group places. In 2009-10 and 2010-11, the average total number of children served by the 11 projects per month was 453 and 576 respectively.

 
   
5.5 Considering that the NSCCP has achieved its objectives of providing flexible child care services and fostering mutual help in the neighbourhood, SWD will regularise it and extend its coverage to all 18 districts to benefit more targeted in-need families in 2011-12. The regularised and extended NSCCP projects will then be provided on an on-going basis with recurrent and additional resources secured and on increasing capacity with at least 720 child care places comprising 468 home-based child care places and 252 centre-based care group places.