Growing number of parents registering Hong Kong births after legal 42-day limit
After Repulse Bay tragedy, new figures reveal worrying trend that is often due to reluctance of men to put their name on birth certificates
A growing number of parents are delaying the registration of their children's birth, with the most extreme cases involving men who do not want to be recognised as the father.
New figures from the Immigration Department showing the upward trend come in the wake of the unprecedented case of two teenage sisters who were born and raised in Hong Kong with no identity documents.
One of the sisters, aged 15, died last Tuesday after she jumped from her family's 19th-floor flat in Repulse Bay, leading to the startling discovery that she and her younger sister, aged 14, had no identity papers and had never attended school.
Parents Nick Cousins, 58, a British insurance executive, and his partner Herminia Garcia, 53, are both out on bail. Cousins is suspected of ill-treating a child but has not been charged. Garcia has been charged with ill-treating or neglecting a child and is also charged with overstaying her visa for more than 20 years.
The case has prompted the Immigration Department to consider a review of its processes - which involve sending letters and calling parents yet to register the births - so as to avoid another such case.
While the vast majority of births are registered within the 42-day period stipulated under law, the number of late registrations has been on the rise.