The Hong Kong Journal of Social Work

Poverty has been reduced by too little, or not at all, in recent years. A fifth, perhaps a quarter, of the world's population are living in extreme poverty. The measurement of the phenomenon, and especially of annual trends in the rates and severity of poverty, is not acceptably precise, consistent, and generally agreed. Nor is policy being analyzed and justified in precise correlation with such trend reports as have been published.

The first Millennium Development Goal — to halve world poverty by 2015 — has become an unlikely prospect. The reasons lie in the present form of the globalization of the market, together with continuing preference shown to neo-liberal economic and social policies. If poverty is to be systematically reduced, the orthodoxies of definition, measurement, explanation and resolution, which as key elements of the problem necessarily reinforce each other, have to be re-examined and re-formulated quickly.

In re-examining approaches to measurement and policy the new human rights instruments, endorsed by a majority and in some cases by an overwhelming majority of governments, must play a vital role. Their potentialities are considerable for the measurement of poverty, deprivation, exclusion and development. But, crucially, they can help to engineer an international, as well as scientific, consensus in the war on poverty. One priority illustration would be a UN Child Investment Fund to finance the universal right of children to social security.

The paper studies pension reforms in the UK, urban China and Hong Kong. It argues that these reforms share suggestions raised by the World Bank, and that these reforms are not effective in strengthening the capacity of pension schemes in giving older people a secure retirement life. To increase the effectiveness of these schemes, the three Governments should appreciate that the main purpose of the pension reforms is to provide older people with secure retirement rather than to promote investors' interests. Moreover, they should develop a social consensus on how security should be defined.

本文的目標是分析澳門社會福利體系的特徵及探討它的模式。它的特徵包括偏低水平的社會福利開支，福利混合主義之供應模式，較低水平的社會權發展，有限度減少社會分層化，福利發展主要被政治經濟因素所主導。其實，澳門的社會福利體系擁有其他東亞地區福利體制之主要特徵，故它亦屬於生産主導福利模式。

This article is aimed to outline the features of Macao's social welfare system and identify its welfare model. The analysis shows that the welfare system is characterized by its low social welfare expenditure, mixed economy of welfare, underdevelopment of social rights, restricted impact on social stratification and the dominant role of the political-economic factors in social policy-making. It is argued that Macao's social welfare system has shared most of key features of other East Asian welfare regimes and therefore it can be regarded as a productivist welfare model.

In the light of the social exclusion perspective, this paper discusses the indicators and different forms of social withdrawal experienced by young people in Hong Kong. The study examined the case records of 88 service users aged 13–24, and conducted 4 focus group interviews with a team of social workers involved in outreaching and reengaging the socially excluded users. Youth's personal agency exercised in their reaction to life events and crisis in the form of social withdrawal is arguably a complex social process, which is shaped, amongst other factors, by the hegemonic definition of youth trajectories and transitions to adulthood, and equally important by social exclusion at the institutional, cultural and relational levels. It is argued that both the structural and subjective dimensions of social withdrawal and reengagement work deserve critical examination in order not to further reproduce social inequalities and disadvantages.

This paper presents the results of a survey of international recruitment of social workers and social care workers into the United Kingdom. The literature on international recruitment, especially in relation to social care workers, is extremely sparse. Reviews conducted by the authors for the UK Department of Health did not find any definitive answer to the question of the numbers at present in the UK workforce, their movement between jobs, and their length of stay in the UK. The present study is based on qualitative interviews with three senior managers, four human resources managers, one employment agency manager, one senior social services inspector and three inspectors and three staff from the voluntary and private sectors. The interviews confirmed some of the major benefits associated with international recruitment: a reduction in vacancy rates; filling gaps in key shortage areas; improved sickness records; and once training has been provided the standards of care have improved. In addition, recruitment from overseas has the effect of creating a more diverse staff mix through the appointment of people with more varied experience and experiences. There may also be cost benefits associated with the reduction in costs of employing agency staff. The challenges involved are: having an ethical recruitment policy; the transferability of qualifications and skill sets, and cultural expectations and differences. Employers need to recognize that higher levels of induction are needed in order to meet the unique local knowledge requirements of an overseas candidate. Generally however, there are very few problems, and employers recruiting from overseas find that any problems that exist diminish with each round of recruitment, that is, as employers learn from their previous mistakes. Nevertheless, international recruitment is only a short term strategy, and, alone, does not solve the fundamental domestic problems that lead to the shortages in the first place.

強制性施虐者服務是現時香港家庭暴力防 治 服務缺少的一環。根據國外的經驗，本文展示強制性輔導的優點，並討論在現時的法律框架下，香港可以如何通過香港法例第298章《感化犯人條例》去展開法庭頒令的施虐者輔導服務。

本文以第一届社會工作專業學生成長過程爲案例，反思了社會工作教育初創期面臨的困境和本校的教育實踐。本文指出，在中國社會對社會工作缺少認同的情況下，要讓學生認同社會工作，必須給學生自我追尋社會工作意義的機會。爲此，教育者必須以學生爲本，向學生授權，同時致力於打破封閉辦學型態，與正在用行動推動中國社會工作前行的各類機構廣泛合作。

Health care services today require an extensive amount of interdisciplinary effort and collaboration. Mutual knowledge among the variety of disciplines that interact within health care is essential in the process of promoting a teamwork concept. This study addresses issues that can arise when professionals from diverse disciplines work together in a health care setting. A systematic analysis of literature regarding documentation efforts necessary for client record management in the care team is focused upon, with special attention given to the role of social workers. Four major gaps in record keeping practices were found and highlight the need for an integrated approach to the design and maintenance of standardized and comprehensive patient records, but such incorporation has not yet been practically defined. The hindrances to record keeping practices define the need for establishing an evaluative component in record keeping.

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