Press Releases
Six homes to merge into one home for children and juveniles in Tuen Mun
Six existing correctional/residential homes operated by the Social Welfare
Department will be merged to form a new home for children and juveniles in Tuen
Mun, scheduled to be completed by the end of next month, a spokesman for the
Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said today (October 25).
These six homes are: the Ma Tau Wai Girls' Home, the Pui Chi Boys' Home, the
Begonia Road Juvenile Home, the Fanling Girls' Home, the Sha Tin Boys' Home and
the O Pui Shan Boys' Home.
Upon completion of the new home, juveniles in these six homes will be moved into
the new home in phases, with the entire removal exercise estimated to be
completed by August next year.
With the impending exercise, the Government needs to introduce technical
legislative amendments to replace references to the six relevant existing homes
by the new home under the subsidiary legislation of five ordinances.
"The new home will need to be listed in the five ordinances by November 30 to
tie in with its anticipated completion.
"To allow a buffer for any unforeseen incidents resulting in delay in the
removal exercise, removing references to the six existing homes from the
subsidiary legislation of the ordinances is proposed for December 31 next year,
which is four months after the scheduled completion of the removal exercise,"
the spokesman said.
The proposed legislative amendments will be gazetted on October 27 and will be
tabled at the Legislative Council on November 1.
The Finance Committee in 2003 approved the Government's application for $330
million to construct a new residential training home to provide better
rehabilitative services for young offenders and maladjusted juveniles under
statutory care and supervision. The home will modernise the facilities of the
existing homes, reduce operating costs, enhance flexibility in staff deployment
and improve service quality.
Ends/Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:14
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