Supporting for children’s healthy development has been the major focus of Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HKSPC) for 90 years. For HKSPC, “Protection” means far more than free from physical threats or abuses, and we protect and safeguard children’s right for healthy development. In this regards, we are committed in promoting children’s rights and benefits, with an aim to lead and excel in keeping children Healthy, Happy and Safe, with concerted efforts from the community.

Early in 1955, HKSPC started to provide emergency accommodation so as to cater to the needs of the inadequately cared children. In 1960, a Children’s Residential Home, provided comprehensive education and care service for young children who were abandoned or under inappropriate care due to family problems, was officially opened. Each year, the Children’s Residential Home under our Society serves in round-the-clock basis for around 170 children, whose parents/careers could not take care of their basic needs due to different reasons—involving in drug abuse, suffering from serious mental problems, suspected to abuse child or other complex family problems.

In order to identify children and family in need proactively, we established 2 non-subvented Children & Family Services Centres in 2003 and 2009 respectively, and put in place a pilot scheme of in-school social service in kindergartens. These efforts serve to enable the early identification of families at risk both in the community and kindergartens, so as to provide the children with prompt assistance, at the same time support the development of children from underprivileged families, and thus prevent their problems from deteriorating.

Over the past few years, young children suspected to have developmental problems, receiving no assistance at all, have been another key focus of us. We adopt the approach of “Early Identification, Early Intervention”, supporting those children, teachers and parents in early identification of cases at high risk and in accepting children’s developmental problems. Besides, one-stop assessment and professional services are tailored to provide prompt rehabilitation training in their golden six-year treatment.

The recent serious child abuses and incidents of children as homicide victims have raised the public concern on child protection. According to the statistics provided by Social Welfare Department, there is a significant increase in the number of newly reported child abuse case involving children aged 6 or below. It increases from 18% in 2013 to 30% in 2019. It reflects that the problem of child-abuse is aggravating.

As one of the members calling for the setup of a Children’s Commission, we are delighted to learn about the soon-to-be establishment of the Commission. In the past few months, we have been actively sharing our experience on topics of child-abuse prevention, supporting underprivileged children and families and public studies with the Government and the public. Moreover, we also urged the government to devise a prevention-oriented child policy, with appropriate mechanisms and measures for the early identification and appropriate support for the children.

In light of the increasing complexity of family and children issues, HKSPC is eager to join hands with the community for the protection and promotion of children’s rights and benefits. It is hoped that through “Dream for Our Children”, a new online platform, we could share our views to all friends caring about children’s rights and benefits; together we could create a healthy, happy and safe environment to nurture our next generation.

Wish you good health and happiness and look forward to your invaluable support!

Mrs. Susan Choy
Director

Link to: Grasp the Golden Period of Treatment: Early Intervene to Support Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Susan Choy, Director