Page 59 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

The aim of the project is to provide residential placement,

love and care to severely mentally retarded children whose families
are unable to cope with the children. In the initial stage the
Project provides ten residential placements. The child must come

from a family living in the East Kowloon Area, be between ages of
3-7 years and have an I.Q. of 25 or less, or an I.Q. of 25-50 with
medical complications and a physical handicap.

While living in the preventorium, the children are cared for

24 hours a day by a staff or seven. Every two months the children
are taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for physiotheorpy. Twice
a month, parents are encouraged to bring their children home to
enjoy a week-end with other family members. This is designed to

strengthen the parent-child relationship. Everyday, each child is
provided with a different individual training program, e.g. training

to stand, to sit and to do exercises etc. Group activities are also
an important part of the children's life at Sunnyside. Christmas
and Birthday parties bring joyfulness - a new experience for most
of them.

Financial support for this Project is still needed. In
these (initial) years it is estimated that the Project unit cost
will be HK$12,000 per child, per year. However, the unit cost is
expected to go down when the service is expanded to care for more

than the present ten children. The Project intends to stimulate
community concern and demonstrate the need of services for the
severely mentally retarded children in our community. It is hoped

that community concern and generous financial support would be
achieved on a continuing basis.

The Hong Kong Christian Council, as the co-ordinating agency
of this Project, wishes to express its thanks to the many support-
ing service agencies, churches, groups and individuals who help

make this Project possible. The continuing inquiries from persons
and groups, along with their personal visits, provides a strong
sense of support to these who are shouldering this work.