What We Do / For Children

For Children

Despite the cosmopolitan image of Hong Kong, one in five children in our city lives in poverty, and tens of thousands of children are at risk for neglect, abuse, and abandonment.

Children who are at risk are often referred to the residential child care system. In Hong Kong, the “system” is compromised institutions, foster care, and small group homes. In 2015, there were almost 4,000 children living without families in Hong Kong. On any given day, at least 400-600 more children are on a waitlist, waiting an average of 31 months to get into the residential care system, while still living in unsafe environments or in hospital.

At Mother’s Choice, we are a champion for children and a voice for them to be in a family. Our goal is to see every child in a safe, loving, and permanent family, and work hard to see children either reunited with their birth family, or when that is not possible, to join an adoptive family.

Refer a child to Mother’s Choice

Referrals should be made by a registered social worker.
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Can you help us care for a child without a family?

Learn more about Fostering Learn more about Child Protection

Ways we serve children

We believe that we have a responsibility to provide quality, nurturing care to our children, and to fight for every child to be in a family as soon as possible.

What are “Residential Child Care Services”?

Residential Child Care Services (RCCS) are provided for children and young persons under the age of 21 who cannot be adequately cared for by their families for various reasons such as behavioral, emotional or relationship problems, child abuse, or family crises arising from illness, death or desertion. Foster care services, small group homes, residential crèches, residential child centers, boys’/girls’ homes and hostels are all examples of Residential Child Care Services.

We provide loving, temporary care to children without families in two ways:

Our Child Care Home on 5 Bowen Road is a temporary home for up to 32 babies between the ages of 0-3 in our “Baby Care” program and up to 12 babies or children (0-6 years old) with special needs in our “Wee Care” program. Our team of licensed childcare workers and medical professionals provide individualized early intervention services to help each child flourish and reach their full potential. Our home strives to provide safe, loving and individualized care as close as possible to a family environment.
Foster care provides a temporary family setting and care to children under 18 years of age whose parents cannot adequately take care of them so that they may continue to enjoy family life until they are able to reach “permanency”, be it by re-uniting with their birth family, joining an adoptive family or living independently. The benefit of a family setting in foster care is known to lead to better outcomes for children than those living in residential institutions.

Our Approach

No matter whether children live in our Child Care Home or stay with our foster families, our approach is characterized by:

1

Loving Care
We support those who care for the children in our care. This includes our staff, our team of over 450 volunteers, and our foster families. We make sure that every child is able to receive individual, loving care from trusted adults.

2

Early Intervention Therapy
The first few months and years of a child’s life are critical to their future development. Our multi-disciplinary team of occupational, speech, and physio-therapists work together to develop an individualized care plan to encourage each child to reach his full potential.

3

Commitment to Permanency
Every child deserves a family to call his own, and we fight for every child to join their permanent family as soon as possible, whether that means reuniting with their birth family or joining an adoptive family.

Our hope is that no child in Hong Kong waits for a family. We are working towards a day when no child needs to spend time in an institution, not even Mother’s Choice.

Gary Stephens, Co-Founder of Mother’s Choice