The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong (BGCA) was founded in 1936. With the mission of “Nurture the Young, Create the Future”, BGCA is dedicated to the welfare and well-being of children, youth and their families. By providing a wide range of professional and child-centred services, we strive to protect our young, physically and mentally.

The Chief Executive delivered his second Policy Address today (25th October 2023), and BGCA has the following responses to make:

Promote Fertility

BGCA welcomes the HKSAR Government’s efforts in encouraging childbirth not only through various innovative policies, but also through strengthening the existing support of childcare for working families thus releasing their labour force. Early childhood development is a very important milestone. We believe that creating an environment conducive to early childhood development and child protection is beneficial to encouraging childbearing and supporting new families and their carers. In order to support the holistic development of infants and young children, we propose to establish district community hubs for 0 to 6-year-olds. These hubs would offer early childhood intervention services in five key areas to both the parents and children, including health, nutrition, safe environment, nurturing quality, and early learning. In addition, these district community hubs and community centres can also play the role of parent education and support the physical and psychological needs of the carers, to build an intimate parent-child relationship, and create a healthy and pleasant environment for their growth.

Targeted Poverty Alleviation

BGCA agrees with the HKSAR Government to focus on providing support to the three target groups: households residing in SDUs, single-parent households and elderly households. We support the Government in vigorously promoting the “Strive and Rise Programme”, and suggest making reference to the Child Development Fund and enhancing the implementation details and the mentorship programme, so that more disadvantaged youth can benefit from the project. We also suggest the Government cooperate with the Integrated Children and Youth Services Centres in different districts, make good use of the resources to promote the “Pilot Programme on Community Living Room” and “School-based After School Care Service Scheme”.

A Caring Hong Kong

BGCA expresses support for the establishment of Care Teams, which integrates community resources and efforts to support work in districts, and strengthens district liaison. The Care Teams play an important role in this Policy Address by providing a series of district services, such as assisting eligible elderly persons, persons with disabilities and their carers to install emergency alarm systems as necessary; and through visits or contacts, identify elderly persons in need of social services, persons with mental health needs and households of ethnic minorities, and refer cases to the relevant social welfare service units for follow-up. With the intention to provide ongoing care for the groups in need, including children living in subdivided units and families at risk, we firmly support the work of the Care Teams. It is suggested that Care Teams strengthen the collaboration with the Integrated Children and Youth Services Centres in the respective districts, to jointly create a caring and inclusive community.

Youth Mental Health     

BGCA agrees with the 10 enhanced measures proposed by the HKSAR Government earlier. However, the social environment has aggravated the mental health problems of youth in recent years, resulting in numerous suicide cases. For young people who are suffering from an early stage of emotional distress, we propose to enhance their awareness of help-seeking through innovative service approaches. We support the incorporation of “Mental Health Literacy” training in the school curriculum to enhance the cognitive ability, personal strengths and overall mental and physical health of individuals. Early identification and intervention by youth service units is of paramount importance. It is recommended to create space in each district to provide young people with ease, relaxation and stress relief, and leverage experienced social workers to conduct assessment and early intervention with multi-disciplinary teams to support youth in need.

Child Protection     

BGCA has always been committed to child protection and supports mandatory reporting regime with the protection of children’s safety as the primary consideration. We urge the HKSAR Government to further consider the concerns of the industry during the scrutiny of the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill. At the same time, the Government should also increase public education, to enable the general public to understand the importance of mandatory reporting of child abuse to child protection.

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