What We Do / For Children

For Children

In Hong Kong, one in five children in our city lives in poverty, with one in three children going without three meals a day. In 2015, there were almost 4,000 children living without families in Hong Kong.

These children live in the residential care system in Hong Kong, in institutions, foster care, and small group homes. At least 400-600 more children are on a waitlist at any one time, waiting an average of 31 months trying to get into the residential care system, while still living in unsafe environments or in hospital.

90% of the children living in residential care have a formalized plan to be reunited with their parents. However, in reality, children spend an average of 42 months in care, and half of them will age out of the system at age 18 without a family to call their own. Children who grow up in residential care are more likely to struggle with antisocial behaviour, engage in harmful activities and if they are a girl, they are more likely to face a teenage crisis pregnancy.

This leaves many children “stuck” in the system, without a safe, loving, and permanent family.

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 we work hard to ensure that every child can either be reunited with their birth family, or join an adoptive family as soon as possible.

Can you help us care for a child without a family?

Learn more about Fostering

Refer a child to Mother’s Choice

Referrals should be made by a registered social worker.

For enquiries, please call us at 2313 5648.

Ways we serve children

We believe that we have a responsibility to provide the highest quality of care to our children, and to fight for every child to be in a family. We provide loving, temporary care to children without families in two ways:

Our Child Care Home changes the life stories of children without families. We have space for up to 32 typically developing babies (Baby Care) and 12 children with special needs (Wee Care). Our early intervention care helps children flourish and reach their full potential now and in the years to come. Each year, we serve over 100 children at our Child Care Home.
Our Foster Care Services provides loving and safe foster families to care for children who do not have a safe home to live in. Through Project Bridge, we connect nurturing volunteer families to children in need of temporary care while they wait to join their permanent family. We empower our foster parents to create an enriching environment for children through regular training, workshops, and peer support.

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