The HKSPC Child Safeguarding Academy “Inter-professional Support for Family Caregivers” seminar was successfully held on July 4, 2024. The event has attracted over 80 social workers, teachers and parents from HKSPC and outside HKSPC. Speakers have shared their inspirational insights on exploring the needs of caregivers from sectors of child education, family support and social enterprises, and how caregivers can obtain social resources.   Four speakers include Ms. Yonnie Lam, Service Director (Nursery School) of HKSPC, Ms. Cheng Yin Ping, Senior Social Work Supervisor of Caritas Rehabilitation Service, Mr. Verdi Lai, Coordinating Secretary of Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong, as well as Mr. Ringle Leung, Founder of HealthyMind Parents Academy.   Ms. Mary Wong, Deputy Director (Child Care & Education) of HKSPC expressed her warm welcome during the opening speech, saying that the Society will continue creating a nurturing environment and to promote the well-being of children, demonstrating our slogan “Happy Childhoods Uplift Us All.”                             The seminar consisted of four sessions. By sharing their professional knowledge, personal experiences, life examples and case analyses, four speakers discussed with participants how to establish a safe attachment relationship with their children, support for parents who have children with special needs, career development for caregivers, and tips for improving family happiness.   We sincerely hope that this seminar can promote cooperation between different social welfare sectors, educational institutions and parents. Everyone can contribute to bring happiness to more families and children in the community.  

Since HKSPC established the “Child Safeguarding Support Line” around a year ago, the calls received were not only related to the association’s stakeholders but also to the entire Hong Kong public. Gloria Lau, our “Child Safeguarding Consultant”, shared the following impressive calls for help: 1) Divorced mother feared that her children would be abused A middle-aged divorced lady has called the hotline many times. Due to financial concerns, the custody of three children was awarded to her ex-husband. Her ex-husband married another woman, so her three children now lived with the stepmother. However, the lady suspected that the stepmother had neglected or abused her children. The eldest child had cried to the lady and even stayed at her home temporarily. The lady worried a lot and didn’t know how to help the children, so she called our hotline for help. The woman who asked for help was very emotional, so the Consultant taught her some skills to calm herself down and communicate with others. The Consultant listened patiently and referred her to relevant resources. 2) Abortion consultation for woman of advanced maternal age A woman of advanced maternal age called and consulted for her unexpected pregnancy. She worried that her family’s resources would not be able to afford and support the birth of a child, therefore she was considering an abortion. Yet, Life was not easy to come by and her husband wanted to give birth to a child. The woman wondered whether she needed to have an abortion or not. She wanted to consult someone before deciding, so she called our hotline. The consultant introduced the Day Crèches​ services of our association and other similar services in Hong Kong and comforted her that the problem could always be solved. The above help-seekers were not stakeholders of the association. They simply wanted to find help and searched on the internet, then found our hotline. In the spirit of protecting all children in Hong Kong, our consultant also listened carefully and made referrals with empathy. “I would not make direct suggestions for callers but provide relevant information and resources. I believe it is important to provide hope and listening when people are in desperate situations. ” Gloria said. The hotline has also received calls related to our association, sometimes colleagues will call to make suggestions on how to improve the services. “The colleagues’ willingness to call proves that they trust this hotline, and it is a channel for them to express opinions.” Gloria said. Besides the hotline, the “Child Safeguarding Department” also conducted many internal and external trainings to introduce child safeguarding policies and mandatory reporting mechanisms in the form of interactive workshops. HKSPC has trained more than 700 internal staff and has also cooperated with The Education University of Hong Kong to train students in Early Childhood Education, to enhance the awareness of child protection in the Association and even in Hong Kong.   Welcome to call the ” Child Safeguarding Support Line” / WhatsApp: 2691 0188 SERVICE HOURS: MONDAY TO FRIDAY 9:00AM – 1:00PM; 2:00PM – 5:00PM

HKSPC is committed to creating and promoting a child safeguarding culture that focuses on children’s developmental needs. We recognise the importance of enhancing our colleagues’ skills and knowledge while encouraging organisational innovation. The HKSPC Child Safeguarding Academy (CSA) has been established with the goal of offering systematic and comprehensive support for professional development to our colleagues and the industry. The key objectives of the CSA are as follows: Promoting and sustaining agency-wide child safeguarding standards and best practices that focus on children’s developmental needs; Ensuring the frontline staff members are equipped with latest skillsets adequate to deliver their responsibilities properly and effectively; Building a lifelong learning culture; Establishing a platform for staff to facilitate continuous development, sharing of practices and knowledge management; and Supporting career and personal development of staff members Since its inception in January, the CSA has provided or promoted over a thousand hours of training opportunities and recorded participation of more than 200 employee-times. We appreciate the support of colleagues and their dedication to lifelong learning. To uphold a sustainable and effective training strategy, the HKSPC has invited professionals and experts from different fields to be the members of the CSA’s Advisory Panel and provide professional advice to the CSA. The Advisory Panel comprises early childhood education academics, medical doctors, psychiatry researcher and psychologists. The CSA’s training activities will cover the following eight areas: Regulations and Compliance Child Care and Education Child Development Early Intervention Family Engagement and Support Management and Leadership Other Functional and Cross-functional Competencies Staff Personal Growth and Self-care This year, the CSA’s focus for training and development is “Attachment and Play”. With the promotion and support of the Academy, colleagues have proactively participated in different training activities. In April, several employees completed the training of Circle of Security Parenting™ Facilitator, which is a widely used theory in the child care and education field, and are now a Registered Circle of Security® Facilitator. Another group of colleagues are going to pursue this qualification in June. Upon attainment of the qualification, colleagues will be able to develop projects that assist carers to meet the true needs of children, thus improving the relationship between children and the carers. Moreover, the training activities will facilitate HKSPC’s services to consolidate and strengthen the adoption of play education, helping children to explore the world under proper protection and to grow up happily. To guide colleagues towards targeted training and development opportunities, the CSA has implemented a comprehensive Continuing Professional Development Framework. In addition, HKSPC has reviewed the staff training subsidy scheme, increasing the amount of training subsidy and number of training leave day offered to staff of different job types, encouraging and offering support for colleagues to engage in continuous development. Our Child Safeguarding Consultant is delivering training on Regulations and Compliance to colleagues. Colleagues are having small group discussion on the core values of child care. Related news:CRHK: 保護兒童會成立學院 培訓員工提升照顧兒童技巧TVB News: 保護兒童會成立守護兒童學院加強員工培訓 圍繞嬰幼兒發展等範疇

On 15 May, Ms Subrina Chow, Director of HKSPC, led our group of colleagues to visit the campuses of Tung Wah College in Mong Kok and Ho Man Tin, and to discuss and exchange with the College’s President, Professor Sally Chan, Vice President (Academic), Professor David Man, and their management team. The College gave us a tour of their Early Childhood Play / Learning Laboratory, Paediatric Occupational Therapy Laboratory, Virtual Reality Laboratory and Challenge Based Learning Nursing Laboratory, from which we have gained valuable insights and experience on nurturing healthcare and early childhood edu-care professionals. As a charitable organisation dedicated to safeguarding children in Hong Kong, HKSPC looks forward to working hand in hand with our peers to improve the quality and standard of early childhood education and care services , as well as providing the best care and protection for our children.

HKSPC concluded the 9-month Reform Project at the Children’s Residential Home (CRH) last December, which laid a solid foundation for our enhanced residential child care service quality and our new child-centric caring culture. Meanwhile, we strive to keep abreast of the best standards of care, education, rehabilitation and social work services for our children and families. That is why we have established the HKSPC Child Safeguarding Academy earlier this year to provide our staff with systematic and comprehensive professional training and support to promote a child safeguarding culture centred on children’s developmental needs. We sincerely thank the following elites in the industry who have joined the Advisory Panel of the Academy: 周婉芬博士（Dr. Iris Chau） 鄭慧芬醫生（Dr. Anna Cheng） 鄭佩華教授（Prof. Doris Cheng） 葉柏強醫生（Dr. Patrick Ip） 李南玉博士（Dr. Amelia Lee） 潘麥瑞雯博士（Dr. Rachel Poon） 葉錦成教授（Prof. Yip Kam Shing） In its initial phase, the Academy is conducting training mainly for the staff of CRH and our other children service units. In future, the Academy’s mission is to extend its service in stages to the entire staff of HKSPC, professionals in the industry, child carers and, in due course, the general public, so as to share professional knowledge and experience, and contribute to the development of child educare and support for the carers. “Child Safeguarding Policy” can now be viewed at HKSPC website Furthermore, HKSPC has recently formulated the Child Safeguarding Policy. All staff members are to be trained on and strictly follow this new policy as well as the previously implemented Whistleblowing Policy. They also have to possess a valid checking code from the Sexual Conviction Record Check scheme. Both our Child Safeguarding Policy and Whistleblowing Policy have been uploaded to HKSPC’s website for public access. By progressively implementing the various reform measures, we are confident in sustaining the positive changes introduced by the CRH Reform Project, continuing to deepen and promote the new child safeguarding culture and best service standards. Ming Pao’s interview story: 保會成立守護兒童學院 統籌培訓 總幹事：童樂居完成重整「只是開始」 長遠冀支援業界

Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility. According to Chapter 13 of “Protecting Children from Maltreatment – Procedural Guide for Multi-disciplinary Co-operation” published by the Social Welfare Department in April 2020, organisations should formulate child protection policies and measures, and provide staff with relevant training. As an organisation with over 95 years of history, HKSPC has an unshaken commitment to child protection, one that has not wavered despite various challenges and difficulties emerged over the years. We have newly established a Child Safeguarding Department before the commencement of the school year in 2022. With the leadership of Ms Subrina Chow, the Society’s Director, and the guidance of Dr Leo Chan, Executive Committee member and Paediatrician, I will join hands with colleagues to take a further step for the organisation’s mission of child protection. The Child Safeguarding Department has already initiated its work in three levels – policies, staff training and parent education. On policy level, we are currently preparing related documents with the target to set out clear policies and procedures, which comprise the mechanism of reporting and complaining. On staff training, we are on track with the schedule to train all our staff members for knowledge of child protection, so as to enhance their awareness to “put children’s welfare first” and confidence in handling related cases. As for parents, we will maintain communication with them about the organisation’s progress on policy implementation. We will also promote the message of child safeguarding and educate parents about their important role and responsibility in their children’s growth and development. Let us work together to help children grow up healthy and happy! Gloria Lau, Child Safeguarding ConsultantHong Kong Society for the Protection of Children

From the beginning of this year, HKSPC has carried out a series of reforms to uphold the “children-first” commitment and ensure our children are well cared for. We have already appointed the new Director of the agency and new Superintendent of Children’s Residential Home (CRH), and replaced the frontline child care workers at CRH. In addition, we have established new departments and positions comprising executives with extensive experience in the relevant fields in order to improve our governance and transform the agency’s overall culture, with a view to delivering the best services to the children we serve. Deputy Director (Child Care and Education) This new management role is held by Ms Mary Wong who has served in the social welfare sector for over 30 years, with broad experience in pre-school edu-care service development and management. She is mainly responsible for assisting the agency in further upgrading our pre-school edu-care services, including nursery schools, day crèches and CRH. She will work on enhancing the overall service quality, improving resources allocation and coordinating the collaboration between service units and teams. With regard to CRH, Ms Wong has been focusing on ensuring a smooth transition at the conclusion of the CRH Reform Project, particularly in providing professional inputs and support to enriching staff training in caring for children with special background and developmental needs, and implementing the ITERS/ECERS (Infant/Toddler and Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales). Child Safeguarding Department This newly established department is led by Child Safeguarding Consultant Ms Gloria Lau who has extensive experience in children’s work and law enforcement agency. Its mission is to develop new and forward-thinking policies and procedures. The Consultant, who is proficient at the SWD’s “Protecting Children from Maltreatment – Procedural Guide for Multi-disciplinary Co-operation”, will set out clear guidelines and carry out trainings to ensure that staff at all levels understand and follow the principles and practices of child safeguarding and protection. Comprehensive emotional support and guidance will also be provided to the employees, together with an enquiry hotline. For the public, the department will promote the principles and knowledge about child safeguarding. Ms Gloria Lau conducting staff training Risk Management, Compliance and Internal Audit Department (RMD) Reporting directly to the HKSPC’s Audit and Risk Management Committee, this new department comprises executives who have held key positions in multinational corporations, banks and the government. Their primary responsibilities include assisting the agency in developing and implementing a risk management and compliance assurance system, as well as conducting internal audits. Led by Audit and Risk Management Director Mr William Yue, RMD members are currently focusing on helping various departments assess their risks and come up with mitigation measures. We are excited to see our new management teams bring new inputs and perspectives to the development and governance of the agency, and all our staff members working together for a healthy, happy and safe childhood for our children.