MR Ian Strachan has made a very good start as Director of Social Welfare. Earlier this year, he issued what amounted to a policy statement announcing that the needs of the family were paramount. I am extremely pleased by this change of focus from institutional and professional priorities, to those of the family. In this context I would like to draw Mr Strachan's attention to an area where government policies are not helping families. Families who have a child with severe or profound handicaps soon find that any realistic attempt at home care, stimulation and development training is a full-time job. Families in this situation are eligible for an allow-ance of approximately HK$1,500. As the cheapest form of full-time domestic help costs more than double this amount, it is clear that many low-income families can neither afford the time nor the money to look after the child. If there is no available and willing relative to help out there is only one option - to place the child into full-time residential care. By failing to provide the resources needed by families with severely handicapped children, Social Welfare Department policies lead directly to the splitting up of families. Many of these children are left to lie in their cots with only minimal intervention. They suffer from severe sensory, physical and intellectual neglect. How could it be otherwise? There is only one nurse to 25 cots. No wonder the children are left with plastic tubes down their noses - this is the only way the nurse can ''feed'' them. It is true that what happens in hospitals is beyond the remit of the Social Welfare Department. But no-one can suggest that this is an acceptable solution to the problem these children pose. The department's policy of not providing adequate support for families having profoundly handicapped children does mean that children are effectively abandoned. I would be most interested to hear of any developments in the department's thinking towards families in these circumstances. JONATHAN CHAMBERLAIN Cheung Chau