Dear Friends, I am honoured to have served the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HKSPC) since 2013 and chaired its Management Committee for the last two years. At the Executive Committee (ExCo) meeting of December 7, I was elected the new Chairman for a two-year term. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our immediate past ExCo Chairman, Mr. Robin Hammond, for driving and leading many changes in HKSPC in these exceptional times. My gratitude also goes to Mr. Timothy Lam, Jr., who just stepped down as President of HKSPC, and Mr. Peter Wong, who will shortly step down as Chairman of the Audit and Risk Management Committee, for their remarkable work and foresight. Change to Improve Rebuilding the Children’s Residential Home (CRH) is the top priority for HKSPC. There is no doubt that we disappointed our service users, donors, friends and supporters over the CRH incident. We are profoundly sorry for what happened. Since then, HKSPC has been wholeheartedly striving for long-lasting changes at the CRH, as well as strengthening the governance, management and workings of the Society more generally. Our work has been guided by three simple beliefs: Better care for children in need Looking after our employees Good governance to sustain what we do To date, CRH has made substantial progress. We have added new Child Care Workers to improve the day-time staff to child ratio to 1:5, well above the regulatory minimum of 1:8. We have implemented a new educare model to better nurture our children. We have set aside additional resources to ensure adequate training for our staff in the CRH. We have installed a full-time Child Safeguarding Consultant, the first among local NGOs, who reports independently to the Director and a designated member of our ExCo, who is herself an experienced pediatrician, on issues relating to child protection. At the Society level, we carried out a review of the employment terms and conditions of our staff and have made adjustments to ensure that we stay competitive in attracting and retaining talents. We are about to embark on a digitalisation programme to upgrade our IT systems for greater efficiency. We have established the Risk Management, Compliance and Internal Audit Department to be more forward-looking on risk matters and a whistleblowing policy to put a stop to unacceptable behaviour. These are just some of the positive changes we have introduced in the last two years. We are committed to listening and being responsive to our employees’ concerns. Planning for the Future We will be front-footed in planning our child care services and empowering our employees. We will ensure that our staff are properly prepared for the new regime on mandatory reporting of child abuse. We are planning for HKSPC to be in a position to better support the Government’s objectives, as set out in the Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address, to support families with newborns, assist working families in childbearing, and promote family education. We will announce new / enhanced services in due course. A Strong Culture for Growth A key foundation for our future development is the cultivation of an inclusive, open and performance-based culture at HKSPC. Better connection with and between our staff to build a common purpose and promoting lifelong learning for them is key. The recent founding of the HKSPC Child Safeguarding Academy will support meeting this objective. I have been visiting our service units to meet colleagues, whom I encourage to come forward with new ideas as we continue to review and put in place measures to reinforce a strong and positive culture in the Society. Thank You All I want to sincerely thank our friends and supporters for their unwavering belief in the mission of the Society, and our staff for their steadfast commitment to serving children, particularly those from an underprivileged background and those with special education needs. The Society will collaborate closely with the Government, professionals from various sectors including social work and education, community leaders, donors, and other stakeholders to do a better job. Our goal is to share our beliefs and experiences in sustaining a child safeguarding culture, and to foster a community that cares for children and families. We are fast approaching the centenary of HKSPC in 2026. Few institutions enjoy such a long and distinguished history. We are committed to the core values that have sustained the Society for nearly a century and would ensure that, going forward, they are always reflected in our services. We must also be forward looking. As the new Chairman of HKSPC, I will uphold the faith of past ExCo Chairmen and members and persevere in leading the Society forward to be more proactive in engaging with the community and the people we serve. I look forward to writing the next chapter of the HKSPC story together with you! As the year will soon come to a close, I would like to extend my warmest wishes to all of you, your family and loved ones. Best wishes, Vincent Lee Chairman of Executive Committee

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

I was invited to join the service of HKSPC early this year, initially on a voluntary basis. I assumed duty as Senior Deputy Director (Change Management) in early March, and after an open recruitment exercise, was appointed Director on 6 May. Given this important role, I pledge to do my utmost for our children’s wellbeing, together with colleagues and stakeholders, under the leadership of the Executive Committee. Since the Children’s Residential Home (CRH) incident came to light, the Society has been trying to identify problems and find solutions. In mid-March, the Chairman of the Executive Committee and I introduced the Society’s new measures and plans at a staff briefing titled “Change to Improve”. We sincerely invited all our colleagues to join the endeavour to transform the organisation’s culture and restore confidence in the Society among our service users, supporters, regulators and the general public. These few months with the Society have been the most challenging yet meaningful time of my work life. In collaboration with the Council of Non-profit Making Organizations for Pre-primary Education (CNOPE), we kicked started in late-March the 9-month CRH Reform Project to introduce fundamental changes to staff and facilities management to cater for the educare and developmental needs of the children in the Home. On top of government-subvented manpower, we now have 70% more child care workers to improve the staff-to-child ratio from 1:7 to 1:5. We have also deployed the same group of frontline staff to take care of a specific group of children, so that they can build stronger bond with each other. At the same time, we are hiring new clerical and administrative staff to give necessary support to the management so that they could devote their time to frontline supervision. The new CRH Superintendent (appointed in mid-March) and I, together with the Project Manager and Assistant Project Manager of the Reform Project, busied ourselves in tackling many big and small problems in the CRH operation, arranging intensive training for our new staff, and meeting to map out future development. It was hectic, and yet so rewarding. Through the Reform Project, we will explore a robust organisational structure and service model to build a loving, trusting and safe environment for our children. The hard work and devotion of HKSPC colleagues as well as the Reform Project team brought to us by the CNOPE, and the thought that our diligent and professional work will help grow the children under our care, spur me on. Most importantly, I can now feel a positive vibe in CRH, and the children’s laughters give us the strength to keep pressing ahead. Looking to the future, my colleagues at HKSPC and I will work hand in hand, learning from the past to turn crisis into opportunities. We must stay on course to serve the community at large, be it through residential or day child care, pre-primary education, school social work, pre-school rehabilitation services, or parental education and support. I want to thank you for supporting and walking with us through it all. May past sorrow and tears nurture a more healthy, happy and safe childhood for our beloved young ones! Director, Hong Kong Society for the Protection of ChildrenSubrina Chow6 July 2022 Biography of Ms Subrina Chow Subrina Chow was an Administrative Officer (AO) in the Hong Kong Civil Service for over 25 years, with experience in public policy and funding proposal formulation, programme design and assessment, project management, public relations and event organisation. She held 10 different positions in policy areas spanning civil service management, education, district administration, international trade relations and investment promotion, IT industry and e-government development, social welfare and labour affairs. In her last government assignment, she was the Assistant Director of Administration in the Chief Secretary for Administration’s Office, overseeing the Government’s liaison with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Ombudsman, as well as the administration of the Justices of the Peace system. Subrina spent over a decade of her AO career overseas. From 2008 to 2011, she was Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore. Her mission then was to enhance understanding and strengthen the economic relations between Hong Kong and the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). From 2013 to 2016, she was Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, and led the efforts in bringing investments into Hong Kong from the 19 states in the western part of the United States. (She was also Deputy Director of the same office from 1998 to 2001.) Subrina worked twice in the former Education and Manpower Bureau. She was first involved in 1995 to 1997 in the drafting of a piece of legislation aimed at regulating the higher education and professional training courses conducted in Hong Kong by overseas and Mainland institutions. In 2002 to 2003, she was Secretary to the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR), and completed a major review of language education policy that covers pre-primary up to post-secondary education and training of working adults. Subrina gained exposure to the policy areas of social security, welfare and rehabilitation services, manpower development and labour affairs when she served as Administrative Assistant to the Secretary for Labour and Welfare in 2007 to 2008. Before joining the Government, Subrina worked briefly with World Vision Hong Kong as a project officer in its Christian drug rehabilitation service and helped to set up a new residential home for young women. She resigned from the Government in 2021 to join UNICEF Hong Kong as its Executive Director.