Services for Young People

The overall objective of services for young people is to help those aged
between six and 24 to develop themselves into mature, responsible and
contributing members of society.

At the district level, 16 youth offices of the department co-ordinate and
strengthen existing youth groups and community organisations, promote
new groups and help them develop programmes to meet community
needs.

At the year's end, non-governmental organisations ran 207 children and
youth centres providing a variety of programmes and activities for young
people's personal and social development. To meet new operational
requirements and young people's changing needs, a Task Group on
Modernisation of Children and Youth Centres was set up. It
recommended improvements to the fitting out standard and the provision
of furniture and equipment to make the centres more attractive.

Social workers are provided for all secondary schools to identify and help
students whose academic, social and emotional development is at risk.
Fourteen additional school social workers were provided in 1997. At the
end of the year, 286 school social workers served a student population of
449 127 at an overall manning ratio of 1:1 570. At the same time, the
manning ratio for 132 secondary schools with a more serious student
problem was lowered to 1:1 000.

The outreaching social work service provides counselling and guidance to
young people who do not normally participate in conventional social or
youth activities and who are vulnerable to undesirable influences. In
December 1997, there were 33 teams serving priority areas which had a
high juvenile crime rate and a high youth population.

A Community Support Service Scheme, comprising two projects operated
by non-governmental organisations and one project by the SWD, was
introduced in 1994-95 on an experimental basis to provide structured
programmes and supervised activities for children and youths who have
broken the law or are at risk. At the end of the year, the two NGO
projects served a total of 1 682 cases and the SWD project a total of 954.

In August 1995, the SWD began to subvent a youth hotline operated by
an NGO to help young people at risk by offering timely intervention
through counselling. The hotline workers handled a total of 29 543 calls in
1997.

The Against Substance Abuse Scheme provides secondary prevention to
experimental or occasional substance abusers under the age of 21, with
the ultimate goal of helping them develop healthy lifestyles. Services cover
counselling groups, supportive activities, drug awareness programmes
and drug education talks. By year's end, 1 139 young people had benefited
from the scheme.

On the recommendation of the Working Group on Services for Youth at
Risk (Working Group), a pilot project was introduced in 1997 to help
identify young students with special developmental needs by way of a
screening tool. Appropriate preventive programmes will be arranged for
these students. A three-year evaluation study is being conducted in parallel
to test the administrative process and evaluate the effectiveness of the
preventive programmes.

To identify and provide assistance for young night-drifters, two youth
mobile teams, as recommended by the Working Group, were set up in
October 1997 for two years on a pilot basis. The teams aim to provide
on-the-spot crisis intervention, short-term follow-up services and to help
young night-drifters to participate in mainstream youth services.

Integrated teams based on a new service model began operating in
October 1994. They provide children and youth centre service,
outreaching social work service, school social work service and, where
possible, family life education under one management structure. Nineteen
teams operated at the end of 1997.

Uniformed organisations offer young people opportunities to join
organised activities with progressive training programmes for the
development of character and leadership and to help them become
responsible members of the community. This year, 92 000 young people
benefited from this service, provided by eight NGOs. The Hong Kong
Award for Young People Scheme has attracted 42 400 members through
its 18 operating authorities.

The Opportunities for Youth Scheme offers funding support to youth
groups to plan and implement community service projects. In 1997, 9 500
young people took part in 149 projects which benefited 60 000 service
customers.

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