Hong Kong to establish new residential child care centre to tackle facilities shortage in wake of abuse scandal
- Welfare minister Law Chi-kwong says city currently has limited capacity among providers of residential child care, invites more operators to join sector
- New facility to adopt enhanced approach to care for youngsters as part of pilot scheme to be proposed by review committee formed in aftermath of scandal
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong on Friday said authorities were looking for suitable premises to establish a new residential child care centre to improve services offered by the sector.
“We will provide opportunities for more operators to take part in the residential child care services to enhance the quality of the services,” Law said at a special meeting of the Legislative Council’s panel on welfare services.
The new facility would adopt an enhanced approach to child care as part of a pilot scheme to be proposed by a review committee, which was set up last month to examine the city’s residential child care and related services.
The review followed reports of child abuse last December at a facility in Mong Kok run by the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HKSPC). Police have arrested 34 of the group’s employees for allegedly abusing 40 youngsters at the Children’s Residential Home, which housed about 100 toddlers who were abandoned, orphaned or lacked adequate support because of family problems.
The scandal has triggered a public outcry and raised concerns about both the quality of services and the level of government supervision at residential care centres for children.
