With a mission to “Nurture the Young, Create the Future”, the Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong (BGCA) is dedicated to the welfare and development of children and youth by providing a wide range of services. We anticipate that the 2024-25 Budget will promote the development of Hong Kong into a more inclusive community where the public can better share the achievements of economic development, so as to build a child and youth friendly environment for children’s development, unleashing their potential and contribute to the society. In this regard, we have the following views:
Setting up an emotional support centre and online counselling platform for youth
There is a significant shortage of mental health professionals, and the high cost of training psychiatrists and clinical psychologists is difficult to overcome in the short term. This is compounded by their tendency to provide “one-on-one” services, which cannot meet societal demand. Therefore, other professional support and services have become particularly important.
To address the issue of mental distress among youth, BGCA received a donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust in 2019 to implement the “LevelMind@JC” programme in partnership with five non-profit organisations and the University of Hong Kong. The multidisciplinary approach provides an exclusive and stigma-free one-stop service for young people suffering from early stages of emotional distress in various districts, offering counselling, assessment and referral services. It adopts an innovative approach to changing youth’s habits of seeking help in order to enhance their cognitive abilities, personal strengths and the overall quality of their physical and mental health.
We suggest that the government develop relevant services and regularise the “Three-Tier School-based Emergency Mechanism” in various districts. On one hand, it can provide an environment where youth can relax and relieve pressure, and professional social workers and counsellors can offer early intervention and support services to relieve the pressure on the manpower of mental health professionals. On the other hand, it can also support schools in different districts by providing assessment and short-term follow up to alleviate the pressure on teachers and social workers. The goal is to reinforce suicide prevention and provide emotional support.
Over the past five years, the “OpenUp” service provided by the Hong Kong Jockey Club has taken an innovative approach by setting up an online counselling platform run by a team of five organisations. The platform provides 24/7, real-time and anonymous text-based counselling services from professional social workers, counsellors and trained volunteers. It has significantly lowered the barrier to seeking help and is able to analyse the data using artificial intelligence to provide emotional support. Professional social workers and counsellors intervened when a crisis arose, the response and effectiveness of the services is supported by research data. We suggest that the government expeditiously consolidate the experience of the relevant services and establish an online counselling platform specifically designed for youth, with sufficient training and supervision for the trained volunteers, as well as sufficient professional manpower to provide support in suicidal crisis. This will strengthen suicide prevention and provide emotional support.
Allocating adequate resources to ensure the effective implementation of the mandatory reporting mechanism
The Legislative Council is currently scrutinising the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill, the implementation of which may lead to an increase in demand for residential child care services. We therefore urge the government to ensure the provision of adequate residential child care services and manpower support prior to the implementation of the relevant legislation, to avoid cases of child abuse not being properly addressed due to insufficient resources. At the same time, we call on the government to allocate necessary financial resources to enhance the provision and quality of residential child care services in accordance with the recommendations of the “Report of the Review of Residential Child Care and Related Services”.
In recent years, BGCA’s “Amazing Start” Project and “KeySteps@JC” Project funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust have successfully established district community hubs for children in various locations, providing a wide range of early intervention services. These include health and nutrition information, quality parent-child interaction and environmental stimulation to promote quality parenting, secure attachment and early childhood education, social communication, motor skills, etc., and are proven to be effective. These services are crucial to promoting the holistic development of infants and young children and supporting families with special needs (including parents with emotional and mental health problems, young parents, and recovering drug addicts) to build harmonious parent-child relationships and create a healthy and happy environment for children’s development. This will have a positive impact on the prevention of child abuse in the long term. It can also help grassroots families to lay a solid foundation for their young children’s development, which in the long run can effectively facilitate learning and development and increase the chances of upward mobility out of poverty. With this in mind, we suggest that the government set up district community hubs for infants and children aged 0-6, especially for grassroots families and families with special needs, to provide timely early intervention services. This will not only improve the current services, but will also be a long-term investment in the future of child protection and poverty alleviation.
We firmly believe that only by investing sufficient resources in early prevention, handling and follow-up of reports of child abuse can we create a comprehensive and effective child protection safety net for children.
Ensuring the “Productivity Enhancement Programme” does not affect the livelihood of the grassroots
The government has decided that bureaux and departments will cut their recurrent expenditure allocation by 1% in 2024-25 and by a further 1% in 2025-26. Whilst the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Social Security Allowance Schemes will not be affected by the programme, the cumulative deduction in social welfare expenditure will be 5% with the earlier cuts, directly depriving the grassroots and the disadvantaged of appropriate services. We urge the government to implement the “Productivity Enhancement Programme” without cutting existing services to ensure that the livelihoods of the grassroots and the disadvantaged can be protected.
