Social services for Adolescents & Families

Social services for Adolescents & Families Dr. Chan Chung Po (FM, QEH)

Social Welfare Department • Approved Expenditure Estimate 2002-2003: • Elderly $3524.7M (10.9%) • Family & Child welfare $1804.7M (5.6%) • Young people $1268.8M (3.9%)

Family • the vital component of our society • an intimate environment in which physical care, mutual support and emotional security are provided • A family which functions well in discharging its responsibility contributes to the stability and well being of the society.

Family Casework Services • Aims: to help individuals and families to cope with family or social adjustment problems. • Nature of Activities • Counselling service : help individuals and families cope with their emotional, behavioral & family relationship problems • Referral service : supportive services like home help, clinical psychological service, residential care and rehabilitation service • Statutory service : statutory supervision for children under 18 who are in need of care and protection.

Family casework services • family services centres operated by the Social Welfare Department and subvented non-governmental organizations • Free of charge • Integrated Family Service Centres consists of a family resource unit, a family support unit and a family counselling unit

family casework service resource corner enquiry service volunteer development outreaching service family life education developmental groups mutual-help groups support groups therapeutic groups family aide* after school care* occasional child care services* *in some centres only Integrated Family Service Centres

Family Crisis Support Centre 向晴軒 • operated by Caritas, Hong Kong • Aims: to tackle family crisis at an early stage by providing a package of integrated and easily accessible services to assist individuals or families in crisis or distress • Services: • 24-hour hotline: 18288 • short-term emergency intervention with overnight accommodation • temporary retreat and other support services • effective mutual referral network & collaboration with the police, hospital, welfare units, etc.

Post-migration Services新來港人士服務 • Aims: to assist new arrivals to integrate into the local community, reduce their adjustment problem, enhance their social functioning and self-sufficiency, and to enable early intervention to needy new arrival families • New arrivals who have come to Hong Kong from the Mainland for less than 1 year

travellers’ aid service at Lo Wu Railway Station enquiry and information service at the Registration of Persons Office of Immigration Department family education and parent education programmes orientation programmes language class employment-related training Mutual help / supportive and volunteer group short term counselling Outreaching referral services Post-migration services

Single parent services • Aims: to assist single parents to overcome problems arising from single parenthood, restore resilience, build up a social network of support and mutual help, and to improve their capability for employment and self-reliance • Single parent centres • family & parent education programmes • information on resources, supportive groups, mutual help groups and volunteer groups • training & supervision on child-minding • job skill training programme • short-term counselling, outreach and referral

Child Care Service • Aims: to support and strengthen the family & to enhance the physical, intellectual, language, social and emotional development of the children under the age of 6 years • Majority of the child care centres – Government subsidized; others are either operated by non-profit-making organizations or private operators

Type of Child Care Service • Day Nursery 日間幼兒園 provides care, education & looks after the developmental needs of children aged 2-6 • Day Creche 日間育嬰園 provides care & education services to children < age of 2 • Mixed Child Care Centre混合育嬰幼兒園 provides educare services to children < 6 y.o.

Types of Child Care Service • Occasional Child Care Service 暫託幼兒服務 provides full-day, half-day or 2-hour sessions in some child care centres for children whose carers are unable to take care of them occasionally due to various commitments or sudden engagements • Extended Hours Service 延長時間服務provides in some child care centres to meet the social needs of families & working parents who need longer hours of child care assistance

Types of Child Care Service • Mutual Help Child Care Centre 互助幼兒中心aims at promoting mutual help on child care within the neighbourhood • is set up by non-profit-making organizations to provide care for not more than 14 children aged < 6

Residential Child Care Services • for children & young persons < 21 who cannot be adequately cared for by their families because of various reasons such as behaviour, emotional or relationship problems, or family crises arising from illness, death and desertion • Non-institutional Care includes: • Foster care - for children < 18 • Emergency foster care - for children <18 • Small group homes - for children 4-18

Residential Child Care Services • Institutional Care includes: • Residential creches -- for babies age < 2 • Residential nurseries -- for children age 2-6 • Children's reception centres -- for children age <18 • Children's homes -- for children or young persons age 6 – 21 • Boys' / girls' homes -- for children or young persons age 7-21 with behavioural or emotional problems; schools for Social Development are run within some of these homes • Boys' / girls' hostels -- for young persons age 14 - 21 who are studying or working

Residential Service for Abused Woman • Women with or without children who are in immediate danger of violence or having serious personal or family problems • Four refuge centres provide temporary accommodation (max 3months, but can be extended): • Social Welfare Department Wai On Home for Women • Harmony House 和諧之家 • Christian Family Service Centre Serene Court 恬寧居 • Po Leung Kuk Sunrise Court 昕妍居

Services for Victims of Sexual Violence • social workers of the Social Welfare Department in family services centres / integrated family service centres or medical social services units • provide counseling, escort for report to the police, and arrange referrals for other services, including clinical psychological service, financial assistance, legal service, schooling arrangement and job placement etc

Services for Victims of Sexual Violence • RainLily 風雨蘭 the first rape crisis centre, set up in Dec 2000. The centre provides hotline service, 24-hour outreaching crisis intervention, therapeutic group, co-ordination with other concerned professionals for counselling, medical examination, reporting to Police and collecting evidence etc., to assist the women victims to overcome the trauma, rebuild their self-esteem and self-confidence and resume normal living.

Compassionate Rehousing • Eligibility: a person or a household should have immediate long-term housing need; and has social or medical grounds and cannot solve the housing problem by themselves • Also divorcing parties with dependent children while awaiting for outcome of their divorce applications • victims of domestic violence who have no offspring or bring along no dependent children when leaving their matrimonial home

Services for Street Sleepers • Aim: to help street sleepers give up street sleeping and re-integrate into the community • The family services centres / integrated family service centres & the outreaching teams of the Social Welfare Department • Non-governmental organizations: St. James' Settlement, Salvation Army, Christian Concern for the Homeless Association • Provides outreaching, counselling, financial and accommodation assistance, referral for treatment and other support services

Temporary Shelter / Urban Hostel for Single Persons • provide short-term accommodation and counselling for needy persons and street sleepers so as to encourage them to be self-reliant and help them seek alternative long-term accommodation • Target: street sleepers, bedspace apartment lodgers and homeless persons, particularly the aged, disabled, or those in weak health

Adolescents • A time of bewilderment, as a young person starts facing the complexities and challenges of adulthood • They are constantly bombarded with pressures from various sides, such as family problems, difficulties with school work, peer group influences and temptations from the outside world

Children & Youth Centres (CYCs) • To encourage children and youth to engage in worthwhile activities and pursuits, to organize their own groups and to reach out into the community with a view to assisting them with their personal development • Integrated Children and Youth Services Centres (ICYSCs) provide a wide range of services including CYCs, outreaching social work and school social work services under one management

Children & Youth Centres (CYCs) • four core programmes: • guidance and counselling • supportive service for young people in disadvantaged circumstances • socialization programme • development of social responsibility and competence • non-core programmes such as drop-in service, interest groups, summer youth programmes and study/reading room service • children & youth aged 6-24 on neighbourhood basis

School Social Work Service • Aim: to identify & help students with academic, social and emotional problems, maximize their educational opportunities, develop their potential and prepare them for responsible adulthood • NGOs to provide all secondary schools with school social work service

District Youth Outreaching Social Work Service • seek to reach out and provide counselling & guidance to those young people aged 6-24 who normally do not participate in conventional social or youth activities and are vulnerable to undesirable influences • 16 District Youth Outreaching Social Work Teams run by NGOs

Community Support Services Scheme (CSSS) • aims at helping children and youth cautioned under the Police Superintendents' Discretion Scheme with a view to re-integrating them into the mainstream education or work force and reducing the likelihood of re-offending • individual and family counseling, therapeutic groups, skill training/educational groups, adventure activities, recreational & community services

Services for Drug Abusers • Aim: to help the drug abusers to abstain from their drug-taking habits and re-integrate into the community • This is achieved through both community-based and residential services by means of counselling, group activities, prevocational and social skills training etc.

Services for Drug Abusers • Voluntary Residential Treatment and Rehabilitation Service • four non-medical voluntary drug treatment and rehabilitation agencies: religious based programmes, peer support, intensive counselling • Halfway houses • 15 voluntary drug treatment and rehabilitation centres/halfway houses operated by 5 subvented NGOs, providing a total of 284 subvented places

aims at providing counselling, preventive education programmes and assistance to occasional/habitual psychotropic substance abusers and to young people at risk with a view to assisting them to abstain from psychotropic substance abuse and develop healthy life style. Services for Drug Abusers • Counselling Centres for Psychotropic Substance Abusers • Aim: to provide counselling, preventive education programmes & assistance to occasional/habitual psychotropic substance abusers and to young people at risk with a view to assisting them to abstain from psychotropic substance abuse and develop healthy life style • 3 counselling centres for psychotropic substance abusers under subvention of SWD

Services for Drug Abusers • Social Club for Drug Abusers and Ex-drug Abusers • provides counselling and assistance to the drug abusers, ex-drug abusers, methadone patients and their family members with a view to assist the drug abusers to reintegrate into the community • 2 Social Clubs for Drug Abusers and Ex-drug Abusers subvented by SWD

References • http://www.info.gov.hk/swd • http://newarrivals.socialnet.org.hk • http://www.hkcss.org.hk

Social services for Adolescents & Families