Hong Kong government on Monday defended its financial plan for children in poverty and asked society to sort out more alternatives to address the issue.

"In helping the children in need, the society should adopt a multi-dimension and multi-discipline approach," said a government statement released on Monday.

The statement is a response to media esquires on financial assistance for children living in poverty after a study showed that 2,000 children in Hong Kong have been forced to work to assist families.

The poor children work an average of 6.7 hours a week, with some for almost 24 hours, earning 156 Hong Kong dollars (about US$20) a month, according to the study by Society for Community Organization.

Result of the study shocked Hong Kong, a city with a GDP per capita of US$24,000.

Stories of poor children working to assist families, along with photos of kids collecting used cartons, hit front pages of almost all major newspapers here on Monday, such as the Oriental News Daily and Apple Daily.

The government, however, insisted that local children were provided with higher standard rates than that of other able-bodied recipients, which stand at 1,275-1,920 Hong Kong dollars (165-249 dollars) and 2,230-4,150 Hong Kong dollars (290-539 dollars) respectively.

"The Administration has all along been committed to developing a comprehensive network of services, many of them highly subsidized, to take care of our children's developmental needs," a government spokesman was quoted as saying.

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2005)