Our Fun Day 2025 was successfully held on 15 February at the Wadakiyama Plantation in Sha Tau Kok. The event attracted participation from 23 service units, with approximately 1,700 parents and children attending. This included our service users from Children’s Residential Home, 16 Nursery Schools, 5 Day Creches, and 2 Children and Family Services Centres.   Thanks to the funds raised from our “Little Artist”, we could sponsor parents and children to participate in this fun day, fulfilling our commitment to supporting play-themed activities.   The plantation offered a variety of exciting facilities, including grass skiing, water skiing, hand boats, high-speed slide, drift cars, and trampoline, etc. There is also an organic growing area and a hydroponic growing area, and visitors can feed goats and koi fish, allowing everybody to explore and learn in a fun way.   All parents and children enjoyed an unforgettable Saturday filled with laughter and memorable moments. We received glowing feedback from participants, who look forward to more events like this in the future.

On 19 November, 2024, the Legislative Council Panel on Welfare Services visited three service units of the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HKSPC), including the Children’s Residential Home (CRH), to learn about its work over the past two years.   Members first listened to a briefing from Mr. Vincent Lee, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Ms. Subrina Chow, Director, on its services and operations. During the meeting, Chow shared the current operational challenges faced by NGOs, expressing her hope that the government would review the subsidy model, allowing our childcare centres and nursery schools to more flexibly utilise their reserves to support more children and families in need.   Members then observed the facilities and environment of CRH, as well as the Air Cargo Community Day Creche and the Children and Family Services Centre (Sham Mong Districts), to learn about its childcare and family support services.   Members exchanged views with HKSPC representatives on issues such as establishing effective regulatory mechanisms, improving service quality, strengthening staff training and further promoting a culture of child safeguarding.   Looking ahead, we will be committed to planning new services and continuing to optimise existing services to respond to the ever-changing needs of society, creating a happy childhood for children in Hong Kong.   Members who participated in the visit were the Chairman of the Panel, Reverend Canon Peter Douglas Koon, and Deputy Chairman, Ms Doreen Kong; Panel members Mr Stanley Li, Mr Kenneth Leung, Mr Tang Ka-piu; as well as non-Panel members Dr Junius Ho, Mr Edward Leung and Ms Joephy Chan.  

The HKSPC “Happy Childhoods Uplift Us All” Conference was successfully held on November 1, 2024. The event examines the three key aspects that contribute to a well-rounded upbringing: physical health, mental health, and interpersonal relationships, has attracted over 400 childcare workers, social workers, teachers and parents from HKSPC and outside HKSPC.   We were honoured to invite Mr Chris Sun, JP, Secretary for Labour and Welfare HKSAR to deliver an opening speech for the conference and have more than 10 experts given keynote speeches. They contribute a lot to children's physical and mental health development in their professional fields. We believe that all attendees can gain rich knowledge and inspiration from them.   Mr. Sun expressed his pleasure at seeing HKSPC actively implementing s series of measures to enhance service quality and organizational governance over the past two years. To support the society in monitoring childcare services, the government has appropriated money from the Lotteries Fund, allowing the society to use AI technology in surveillance cameras. The AI-equipped cameras should be in use from Mid 2025.   We also held a press conference to release the results of the "Survey on Awareness and Perception Towards Child Safeguarding," which is the first large-scale survey in Hong Kong focused on public awareness of child safeguarding. The results found that about 75 percent lacked an understanding of the issue. In the future, we will continue to strengthen public awareness and education on Child Safeguarding and work with other stakeholders to make Hong Kong a child-friendly city.   We sincerely hope that this conference can promote cooperation between different social welfare sectors, educational institutions and parents. Everyone can contribute to bringing 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

Our HKSPC Child Safeguarding Academy recently held two useful staff development seminars related to laws and regulations relevant to the work of our colleagues. The first was on the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance delivered by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and the second addressed the new Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill, delivered by Solicitor Mr Chong Yiu Kwong. The seminars have helped our colleagues to understand more about the regulations, as well as empowered them to act vigilantly when handling related issues. The participants included the Society’s frontline staff, social workers, school principals, teachers and management. HKSPC Child Safeguarding Academy will continue to organise and promote training opportunities in 8 training areas and support our staff to engage in various training and industry exchange, encouraging continuous professional development.

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

A group of volunteers from “群芳雅集”, a district service organisation of The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions in Hong Kong Island South, visited Children’s Residential Home on 5 February to provide hairdressing service to more than 30 young children. We hereby extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to the volunteers for their valuable time and love for the children! The volunteers gave children fresh looks with their skilful hands. Sincere thanks to the volunteers for sharing our children with their time and skills!