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The Social Welfare Department (SWD) will allocate additional resources to increase the number of outreaching social workers and service teams so as to strengthen counselling and support for youths at risk, especially in several districts that have relatively serious juvenile gang problems.
The Director of Social Welfare, Mr Patrick Nip, paid a visit to Tseung Kwan O at around midnight last night (December 9) where he saw for himself a "night market" for young night drifters (YNDs) organised by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYGs) and met with participants. He also visited a number of locations in the district together with an outreaching team, taking the initiative to contact some YNDs with a view to looking into their needs.
There are on average two to three "night market" activities organised in Tseung Kwan O each month. While the majority of the activities are held at Tseung Kwan O Sports Centre (TKOSC), some are organised at other suitable locations, both indoor and outdoor. TKOSC provides a safe venue where the participants, led by social workers and instructors, can take part in healthy activities without being disturbed or recruited by gangs. Activities held at other locations, on the other hand, can help broaden their horizons.
The organised night markets offer a variety of activities catering for young people's interests and needs, such as street dance, ball games, youth academy, employment support, drug prevention and education, and Chinese medicine service. Through the outreaching social workers' contacts, care and guidance, and participation in the activities, many local YNDs are able to explore their interests and get to know other like-minded youths. With mutual support from one another, they can develop a positive attitude and set their own goals in life.
Mr Nip met with a group of participants aged about 20. He was pleased to learn that some of the dance enthusiasts had already taken up dancing as a career. Some of the teenagers had found suitable jobs through employment counselling, and some had ceased to mingle with triad members.
Mr Nip encouraged them to keep up their efforts. "Hong Kong is a densely populated society with a fast tempo of life. Very often, teenagers are faced with schooling, employment, social, emotional and family problems," he said.
"The Government is always very concerned about the healthy development of young people and has adopted the strategies of early identification and intervention, timely support as well as cross-sector and inter-departmental collaboration in providing teenagers with a wide range of preventive and supportive services through subvented non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
"To address youth problems and service needs in Tseung Kwan O, Ma On Shan and Tung Chung, we plan to allocate additional resources to set up one more youth outreaching team in each of these districts, bringing the total number of youth outreaching teams across the territory to 37. Outreaching social workers will reach out to more youths at risk, counsel them and refer them to various kinds of mainstream services."
At present, there is a total of 16 District Youth Outreaching Social Work Teams and 18 teams of Overnight Outreaching Service for YNDs in Hong Kong. The estimated recurrent expenditure on youth outreach services is $136 million in the current financial year. The Government is now mapping out details of the enhanced service which is expected to come into operation in the coming financial year.
To provide more comprehensive youth services, the department, with funding support of $17 million from the Lotteries Fund, commissioned three NGOs in August this year to operate three three-year Pilot Cyber Youth Outreaching Projects. These pilot projects aim at tackling cyber-related youth problems and providing timely intervention and support services by reaching out to needy youths, especially at-risk and "hidden" youths, through cyber means. In parallel, the SWD also commissioned a tertiary institution to conduct an evaluative study of the pilot projects.
Moreover, the SWD has allocated an additional recurrent funding of more than $50 million per year to increase by 20% the manpower of school social workers at secondary schools starting this school year with a view to strengthening school social work services, particularly in the aspects of anti-drug work and related counselling services. The annual recurrent expenditure on school social work service will thus be increased to about $250 million.
Ends/Saturday, December 10, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:49
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