The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, was pleased to learn of the dedicated team work of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in making continuous enhancement in service content and family work, and consolidating cross-sectoral collaboration with a view to supporting the youth-at-risk, young offenders and other offenders to get back to the right path and rebuild a new life.

     He expressed his appreciation while officiating at the 10th Anniversary Celebration cum Site Extension Opening Ceremony of the Tuen Mun Children and Juvenile Home (TMCJH) today (September 23).

     Speaking at the Ceremony, Dr Law said children and adolescents in a rapidly changing society like Hong Kong would encounter a lot of challenges and temptations, and some would even display serious emotional and behavioural problems during their developmental stage.  To allow more flexible deployment of manpower and better utilisation of resources to help the young offenders and the youth-at-risk turn afresh, the SWD built the TMCJH in 2007 with the six correctional and residential homes originally scattered in different districts being relocated to this integrated complex to provide more modernised facilities and integrated services.

     He commended the service development of the home for keeping abreast of the changing needs of the adolescents over the past decade.  Apart from providing suitable education and formal vocational and skills training, the TMCJH also devised diversified and individualised training programmes for the residents, and implemented the "Positive Behavioural Management System" to nurture positive mindset and behaviour among the residents.

     He said, the TMCJH had arranged its residents to serve and care for different underprivileged groups in the community. Through participating in volunteer services, their communication skills and sense of self-worthiness would be enhanced. It would also promote social inclusion and help to remove the negative label of the youth-at-risk and young offenders in the community. Moreover, the home has been actively establishing sustainable collaborative network with stakeholders from different sectors, and providing solid community support for the residents through cross-sectoral co-operation to help them rebuild healthy peer network after their discharge from the home.

     In the Ceremony, Dr Law expressed gratitude to the Tuen Mun District Council, the Hong Kong Police Force (Tuen Mun District), the Magistrates' Courts and all other close community partners of TMCJH for their efforts in supporting the needy adolescents in the past.

     Today, Dr Law also officiated at the site extension launching ceremony for the home.  The extended area, about 1 600 square metres, will provide a new venue for organising different adventurous and resilience-building activities to better meet the needs of the residents, hence enhancing service effectiveness.

     After the Ceremony, Dr Law visited the home's facilities, watched the residents' performance and toured the service exhibition.  He had a chat with the residents and encouraged them to continue to equip themselves to prepare for the future.

     Other officiating guests of the ceremony were the Director of Social Welfare, Ms Carol Yip; the Chief Magistrate of Magistrates' Courts, Mr Clement Lee; the Chairman of Tuen Mun District Council, Mr Leung Kin-man; and the District Commander (Tuen Mun) of the Hong Kong Police Force, Ms Tammy Mak.

Ends/Saturday, September 23, 2017
Issued at HKT 17:25

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