Hong Kong teens from broken families need mental health support

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The parents of Yeliz Chu Ka-wai divorced when she was barely five years old. As part of a pilot programme in 2015, Chu, then 22 and a university student, mentored young children from single-parent families. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 12:01am, 3 Aug 2018Updated: 12:01am, 3 Aug 2018

Having worked as an educator for several years, I have had the opportunity to interact with students from diverse family backgrounds. Whenever I meet a student from a single-parent family, I feel a wave of sympathy, as I have always thought that the crippling impact that their parents’ separation can have on children is underestimated by society.

As someone brought up in a single-parent family, I can say from personal experience that the most worrying aspect, from a child’s perspective, is the psychological stress.

A few of my students have lamented that they hardly experience life as a family as they tackle a wide range of teenage problems, including academic stress and peer pressure. Working round the clock to sustain the family, their parents find it hard to make time for them. When there is only one breadwinner, how much “quality family time” can we expect children to enjoy?

I always see myself as one of the lucky ones, as the environment I grew up in taught me to be tough and independent. However, many of my students from such families became reclusive and developed health issues such as insomnia. Is there any support available in our society for such youngsters?