Child Welfare Services

OBJECTIVES

5.1

Protection of a child's interest and rights is one of the key objectives of family services. Being part and parcel of the family services, child welfare services aim to provide and arrange a safe and intimate environment where children with varying needs can grow and develop into healthy and responsible members of the society.

SERVICE PROVISION AND STATISTICS

5.2

The service provision and statistics are as follows:

Adoption Service
No. of Units		No. of new adoption applications processed
No. of Units		2011-12	2012-13
SWD	2	132 (Local adoption)	128 (Local adoption)
NGO	3	37 (Local adoption) 16 (Overseas adoption)	48 (Local adoption) 21 (Overseas adoption)

Residential Child Care Services
	Number of Centres		Number of Places		Average Enrolment Rate
	2011-12	2012-13	2011-12	2012-13	2011-12	2012-13
Foster Care Service	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	1 020	1 070	89.6%	87.8%
Children's Home	5	5	403	407	91.6%	90.4%
Small Group Home	108	108	864	864	94.1%	93.4%
Boys' Hostel	1	1	15	18	90.6%	79.5%
Girls' Hostel	3	3	65	77	89.9%	83.0%
Boys' Homes with School for Social Development on Site	4	4	457	457	87.9%	88.7%
Boys' Homes	3	3	195	201	70.8%	76.0%
Girls' Homes with School for Social Development on Site	2	2	200	200	83.4%	84.3%
Girls' Homes	1	1	30	30	83.6%	83.1%

Day Child Care Services
	Number of Centres		Number of Places		Utilisation Rate
	2011-12	2012-13	2011-12	2012-13	2011-12	2012-13
Standalone Child Care Centre Note 1	12	12	690	690	99%	100%
Occasional Child Care Service	217 (units)	217 (units)	434	434	62%	71%
Extended Hours Service	103	103	1 230	1 230	84%	81%
Mutual Help Child Care Centre	23	23	314	314	8%	8%

Note 1

Apart from the standalone child care centres under subvention of SWD, child care services for children aged under three are also available in kindergarten-cum-child care centres under the administration of the Joint Office for Kindergartens and Child Care Centres, Education Bureau. As at September 2012, there were about 23 600 child care centre places. Additionally, private standalone child care centres provided about 2 300 places as at 31 March 2013.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PERIOD

ADOPTION

5.3

In pursuant to the provision of the Adoption Ordinance, Cap. 290, three NGOs, namely International Social Service Hong Kong Branch, Mother’s Choice Limited and Po Leung Kuk, have been accredited for providing both local and inter-country adoption service for infants in Hong Kong. They have processed a total of 85 local adoption applications and 37 overseas adoption applications in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

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. The three-year pilot Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project (NSCCP) was launched in 2008-09. There are two service components under the NSCCP, namely home-based child care service for children aged under six (operating from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.), and centre-based care groups for children aged three to under six (operating till at least 9:00 p.m. in the weekdays and covering some weekends and some public holidays).

5.5

In view of the proven effectiveness of the three-year pilot NSCCP in achieving its objectives of fostering mutual help in the neighbourhood and providing flexible child care services, it was regularised and extended to all 18 districts in October 2011, and the minimum number of child care places was increased from at least 440 places to at least 720 places (including 468 home-based child care places and 252 centre-based care group places). Service operators can increase the number of home-based child care places on a need basis and develop child carers’ network, so as to meet the community’s demand for child care services. In 2011-12, the average total number of children served by 18 projects per month was 436, which was further increased to 574 in 2012-13. In addition, resources was increased for operators to enhance social work support for their services, set up project-based service hotline, extend the operation hours of the centre-based care group and provide escort service for needy service users to facilitate their receiving of the service.