FEB Newsletter the Past Quarterwas

FEB Newsletter

The past quarter was another dynamic and productive period for the agency. This Newsletter enlightens you on the ten service projects, the Flag Day and the two gatherings: one for service users and the other the 31st Annual Press Conference cum Annual General Meeting.

Every project of ours is important as manpower is scarce and the project is built on the understanding of the needs and demands of children and families in Hong Kong. It is designed to mobilize different layers of the community to participate and contribute to its launching, prevention and evaluation.

Among the ten projects there are a few Another important but demanding preventive project coming to an end. The Stop Sex Good Parenting Project for Cross Border Families Trafficking of Children and Young with New Born Babies had also come to an end People Campaign though after hard work rendered by our team of staff coming to an end because and volunteers in the past three years with the project funds ended, requires funds from the Swiss Anonymous Foundation. special mentioning as massive This project was demanding in the sense promotion, publicity and that the cross border families encountered training aroused massive tremendous stresses and strains for community attention and different reasons, e.g. traveling back and participation. We managed forth to Hong Kong for the double entry to have a Hong Kong survey permit extension, encountering adjustments conducted reflecting the lack of of the two very different cultures in addition to knowledge and emphasis on this the demands of the caring of a new born and the problem here in Hong Kong, unlike the transforming of relationship between the husband and European and American countries who have the wife. designated enormous efforts and attention in the problem’s analysis, management and prevention. The study findings reflected successes and project We urge the Hong Kong government to take the effectiveness but these were also found in the control group. lead to make this problem widely known and This deserves applause as we wish success for every family. international protocol and standards of protection Time and efforts are required to ensure project services being being ensured in Hong Kong. For the full project implanted and sponsors and the government convinced for report, you may wish to visit www.aca.org.hk. future investment.

While sustaining efforts of child participation and child empowerment, with the funding support and our initiative a Child Protection Web Platform in the name ACAChild.Asia has been launched. Our once child councilor and Kids’ Dream members Mr Benny Yip and Ms Cheng Po Yan both current university students actively assisted in the design and write up of the web platform which included the four major sections: (a) Children’s Rights, (b) Child Safety, (c)Stop Child Abuse, and (d) Children’s Voice. Base on the concept that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, the platform included exercises, games, quiz, and solicited interactive participation by asking them to share, to be informed, to ask questions, to vote and give feed back.

Head Office: 107-108, G/F., Wai Yuen House, Chuk Yuen (North) Estate, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2351 6060 Fax: (852) 2752 8483 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.aca.org.hk

Tuen Mun 407-409, Ting Cheung House, On Ting Estate, Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong Centre: Tel: (852) 2450 2244 Fax: (852) 2457 3782 E-mail: [email protected] The 31st Annual General Meeting also rounded up on the thirty one years of service of this agency. From witnessing denial of abuse this agency took the lead campaigning for vulnerable abused and neglected children and obtained support and recognition from a small group of pioneers expanding to the local and international community. From focusing on identifying the problem to rendering a balanced remedy and preventive programme, this agency has grown from a seedling to a young plant providing protection and support to the vulnerable. From a mere hotline service to a multi service also going online, from a loner to collaborating with adults and children; professionals and general public alike, we are no loners on the road to advocate.

Nevertheless sound advocates must not move away from the important traits of humility, openness, passion, selflessness and courage to speak up even as a minority. While I as the Director of this agency will be bidding farewell to you and the Against Child Abuse after some thirty years of service at the end of March 2011, I urge that such traits be sustained! Happy Year of the Rabbit and Make our Children’s Dream Come True.

Summary of Major Activities October to December 2010

Month Project / Title Activity

Regional Flag Day (New Territories) Organised on 2 October to raise fund for agency services Service Users’ Gathering 2010 cum Meeting, volunteer recognition ceremony and families activities at Sai October volunteer recognition ceremony Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre: 17 October Norma Talk on the topic of “How to Train Children in Self Discipline and Tuen Mun Programme Respect”: 31 October to convey the positive parenting message November Annual Press Conference Held on 19 November, the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse v Kiss Kids Funny Day: 30 October. A bonding exercise programme was conducted by Mr Paul Wong Shu Sing, Lecturer of Department of Early Childhood Education of The Hong Kong Institute of Education to the target families v Focus Group for Volunteers and Families: 15 and 20 November Conducted by Dr Edward Chan from the Department of Social Work Good Parenting Project and Social Administration of The University of Hong Kong October to December v Professional Sharing Forum: 17 December. There were 49 professionals from different sectors including social work, education and health service attended the Forum. v Closing Ceremony of Good Parenting Project: 17 December to over hundred families and volunteers

Safe and Child Friendly Community v Story telling mama sessions: 26 and 29 October Project in Wong Tai Sin v Visit by the CIIF Secretariat: 22 October

2 v Visit to the HK Heritage Museum: 31 October v Love Your Neighbour Day Camp: 28 November v New Arrival Families Support Group – group meeting: 15 December v Christmas and Birthday Party: 23 December v Morning Tea Parenting Group: 14, 21 and 28 October, 11, 18 and 25 Safe and Child Friendly Community November, 9 and 16 December Project in Wong Tai Sin v Neighbourhood network group meetings: 7 October, 4 November and 2 December v Children Book and Toy Corner: 8, 15 and 29 October, 12 and 26 November, 3, 10 and 17 December v Positive parenting course: 27 October, 10 and 24 November, and 8 December v The 3rd batch volunteers training course (4 sessions): 27 and 29 October, 3 and 5 November v Parents Group: Good Mothers Sharing Time on every Thursday morning: 4 November to 9 December Healthy Start Home Visiting Project v Home Visitation: per month v Publish the 8th issue of project newsletter October to December v Anime safety tips were sent via e-mail v Developing a web-based platform to promote child protection and Child Protection Web Platform children’s rights with the participation of young people. v Child Protection Web Platform Naming Competition: November v Children’s rights interactive pack “Walking with Bears” published and Kids’ Dream: Children distributed to all primary schools in Hong Kong Empowerment Work v Christmas party: 21 December v Trainings: 6 and 20 November, 4 December Joyful Kids v Meetings: 30 October, 6 and 20 November, 4 December v Services: 2 October and 27 November v Visited by Disney Children’s Fund: 18 October

A Child’s Voice for a Caring v Volunteer training day: 30 October Community v Volunteer meeting: 4 and 11 December v Secondary school students training camp: 18 and 19 December v Professional Seminars (Kln ): 9 October Children’s Rights & Harmonious v Professional Seminars (NT): 31 October and 4 December Family Programme v Children’s Rights Homepage: September to November Co-organised by ACA, HK Committee on Children’s Rights and UNICEF HK Committee to develop the official website of Children’s Council to Children’s Council Website demonstrate all track records and key snapshots of the project since its launching in 2002 and to promote children’s rights. November v Promotional booths were set up at to December  Sha Tin College and Junior School Bazaar: 20 November Stop Sex Trafficking of Children  Pooi To Middle School: 6 and 7 December and Young People Campaign  Ning Po College: 22 December v “Preventing Children From Sex Trap” Sharing Forum: 1 December v Volunteer Training on Child Fitness by Dr Anna Cheng in the United December Bless My Home Forever Christian Hospital: 11 December v Trip to the Ocean Park: 31 December

3 Forthcoming Events for January to March 2011

Month Project / Title Activity

A press conference to report the effectiveness of the project and Good Parenting Project invite service users sharing: 30 Jan Certification Course on Child Sexual 3-session training course on Child Sexual Abuse for professionals: 11 Abuse to 25 January January v Launch of the website, ACAChild: 1 January

Child Protection Web Platform v Child Protection Sharing Forum cum “Child Protection Web Platform Naming Competition” Award Presentation Ceremony: 15 January v Talk on children’s rights for Form 1 students of SKH Lam Kau Mow Kids’ Dream: Children Empowerment Secondary School: 24 January Work v The 1st General Meeting of Hong Kong Children’s Network: 26 January to and 27 February February v “Child Protection” Bus Tour to convey the child protection Tuen Mun Programmes message to Tuen Mun residents: 22 January v Spring Gathering of Family Corner Volunteer Group: 17 February Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People Campaign Slogan Young People Campaign Competition: January to March Co-organised by ACA, HK Committee on Children’s Rights and UNICEF HK Committee to develop the official website of Children’s Children’s Council Website Council to demonstrate all track records and key snapshots of the project since its launching in 2002 and to promote children’s rights. v Baby birthday party: 26 January v Family workshop and family gathering (Bonding exercise): 19 February Healthy Start Home Visiting Project v Home Visitation: every month v Publish the 9th issue of project newsletter v Anime safety tips will be sent via e-mail v Service: 22 January Joyful Kids v Trainings: 19 February, 12 and 26 March v Meetings: 19 February, 12 and 26 March January to v Volunteer Meeting: 8 January, 12 March March A Child’s Voice for a Caring v In-depth workshops: 22 and 29January, 19 February Community v Schools sharing / survey: March to June v New Arrival Families Support Group – group meeting: 5 January, 9 February and 2 March v Positive parenting course: 5 and 19 January v Neighbourhood Network Group meetings: 6 January, 10 February and 3 March v Children Book and Toy Corner: 7, 14, 21 and 28 January, 11,18 and Safe and Child Friendly Community 25 February, 4, 11, 18 and 25 March Project in Wong Tai Sin v Morning Tea Parenting Group: 13, 20, and 28 January, 17 and 24 February, 10, 17 and 24 March v New Arrival Families Support Group Activity: 19 January, 16 February and 23 March v Good Neighbourhood Carnival: 16 January v Visit to Ocean Park: 22 January

4 v Heritage Trip: 13 February v Visit to Noah's Ark: 6 March v Chinese New Year Festive Food Cooking: 23 January Bless My Home Forever v Volunteer training in the United Christian Hospital: 26 February v Ocean Adventure in Sai Kung: 26 March Staff Retreat: 12 February to review services of the past year, to February Staff Retreat explore directions for the coming year and to build team spirit February to Children Therapeutic Group “Sunshine Group sessions: 16 and 23 February, 2,9,16 and 23 March March after storm”

Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People Campaign

Global Partner Sponsor

The ‘Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People’ Campaign, organised by Against Child Abuse with the sponsorship of The Body Shop and support from our global partner ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), aims to arouse public awareness on the issue of sex trafficking of children and young people and prevent them from the danger of sex trafficking.

Till December 2010, around 130,000 supporting signatures were collected in Hong Kong, although it was still far away from our target of year end of 2010 - 300,000. Please go to www.aca.org.hk and sign the petition to support our Campaign. The signatures collected will be passed to United Nations and relevant departments. Your participation and support really can make a difference!

“Preventing Children From Sex Trap” Sharing Forum

ACA held “Preventing Children From Sex Trap” Sharing Forum on 1 December 2010 (World Aids Day). The moderator of the sharing forum was Mrs Priscilla Lui, Director of ACA. 8 guests, together with around 100 multi-disciplinary professionals and public discussed and shared the causes of sex traps, its local and international scene, risks of sex trafficking, preventive measures and so on. Professor Ian Grenville Cross (Senator of International Association of Prosecutors), the keynote speaker, emphasized in macro perspective that the setup of an

5 effective Child Commission was the fundamental measure of preventing sexual and other types of exploitation of children, while Ms Warangkana Mutumol, The Thailand Cross-border Project Advocacy and Training Officer, Save the Children (UK) concerned the situation of sex trafficking in South East Asia and made recommendations on prevention, interim care and reintegration of trafficking victims. Professor Karen Joe Laidler, Head of Department of Sociology, The University of Hong Kong, on the other hand, recommended to take the experience of trafficking protocol from United Nations and consider clear definitions of trafficking victims, based on her research in 2004 - 2006 about trafficking of Mainland Chinese Women into HK's Sex Industry. For details of the sharing forum, please go to: www.aca.org.hk/ofs/ofs20101201_Speeches/speeches.html

Promotional booths set up in schools

3 promotional booths were set up in secondary schools during November and December 2010.

On 20 November, we joined Sha Tin College and Junior School Bazaar 2010 to deliver the child protection messages about stopping sex trafficking of children and young people and banning corporal punishment. Our staff and 5 volunteers from Kids’ Dream invited the school parents, students as well as the public to sign petitions and draw handprints to call for greater protection of children and young people against sex trafficking and to support the legislation against corporal punishment.

An exhibition booth was set up at Pooi To Middle School on 6 & 7 December and Ning Po College on 22 December. In particular a student of Pooi To Middle School made announcement in two morning assemblies to promote the important issue of child sex trafficking and solicited support for the campaign from all teachers and students. Sincere thanks are given here to Pooi To students and Ning Po students for their participation and support.

Report and Enquiry Trafficking, forcing or inducing children into pornographic activities have far reaching impact on children. At present the reported cases are only the tip of the iceberg. Please seek help or report cases by:

Hotline: 2755 1122 E-mail: [email protected] Activity website: www.facebook.com/ACASST

6 ACA Safe and Child Friendly Community Project in Wong Tai Sin

Sponsored by the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund

With funding support from the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund, Labour and Welfare Bureau in December 2008, Against Child Abuse (ACA) launches the second phase of “Safe and Child Friendly Community Project in Wong Tai Sin” for three years. This project aims (1) to help build up a safe and child friendly community; (2) to empower families to be willing to act and interact with the neighbourhood (3) to help identify and support family with unattended children, (4) to actualize zero tolerance of violence at home as well as in the community.

In the review period, the following programmes were conducted:

Neighbourhood network The core group had designed the 2011 planner which includes community resources and messages on child safety and good neighbourhood. The planners were widely distributed among participated families, volunteers, collaborators and the residents of Chuk Yuen Estate. In addition, the core group had worked together with the project collaborators for the New Year Carnival. The newly designed Chinese decoration was attractive to the participants and their game booth was well attended.

A total number of 137 families were registered as target families. They continued to join the following activities for strengthening their network and the parent-child relationship : Visit to the HK Heritage Museum, Love Your Neighbour Day Camp and Christmas and Birthday Party.

School network We had conducted meetings with Baptist Rainbow Primary School and St Bonaventure Catholic Primary School for planning strategies and programmes to strengthen the school network and parent-child relationship.

The “Story Telling MaMa Sessions” and 6-sessions Positive Parenting Course for parents of St Bonaventure Catholic Primary School were completed. 42 parents had joined the programmes and will become the members of the school network. We will have a cooking class for the parents and students of Baptist Rainbow Primary School about disseminating safety message.

New Arrival Families Network Group The core group of New Arrival Families Network Group was established. They initiated to use “QQ” the internet network to help support the members.

7 Community publicity programme : Good Neighbourhood Carnival To publicize the project message and information, the Good Neighbourhood Carnival was conducted on 16 January 2011 at the Roller Skating Ground of Chuk Yuen (North) Estate. The collaborators including Baptist Rainbow Primary School, St Bonaventure Catholic Primary School, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Ning Po College and Ho Lap College assisted in the game booths. We had also invited The Salvation Army Chuk Yuen Integrated Service Chuk Yuen C&Y Centre, PLK Mrs Chan Nam Cheong Primary School and the ALPHA for performance. There were about 500 residents participating in this event.

Need Continuous Support We are now recruiting families in need, volunteers and inviting corporate to join the project. For enquiry and recruitment, please contact the project officers, Ms Freda Lee and Ms Alice Ng at 2351 6060 or email : [email protected] or visit our website : www.aca.org.hk.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Project Grant: Healthy Start Home Visiting Project

Sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust

With funding support of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Project Grant, ACA launched a 3-year project in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai districts since April 2008. The project aims to support targeted families during pre- and post-natal period through home-visitation conducted by trained volunteers. It also targets to promote a caring and non-violent environment for the prevention of child abuse and neglect at the early stage so as to ensure our children will have optimal growth.

The Third Batch Volunteers’ Training Course

The first section of the 3rd batch training course consisted of four sessions held from October to November 2010. It included the introduction of our Healthy Start Project, the situation of child abuse in Hong Kong, emotional management, community resources and challenges envisaged by cross border families. We were glad to have Dr Au May Lan, a Chartered Psychologist & Neuropsychologist and Associate Professor of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Ms Chok Yuk Fan, a registered social worker of International Social Service serving new arrivals as our honourable guests. Positive feedback was received from about 30 participants and the overall satisfactory level achieved 99.6%.

8 Family Gathering in Hong Kong Holiday Farm

Sponsored by MATTEL East Asia Ltd With liaised by Save the Children

Christmas always puts people in a joyful, hopeful and festive mood. Sponsored by MATTEL East Asia Ltd and liaised by Save the Children, a family gathering with 94 parents and children participated in was held in Hong Kong Holiday Farm on 12 December 2010. We had BBQ Lunch and experienced an agricultural trip in the farm.

In this Christmas gathering, many participants shared with with us that they treasured the gathering very much. Relationship with other families and volunteers was built. We thanked MATTEL East Asia Ltd for their sponsorship. We also thanked for their staff for preparing and donating a lot of gifts and sparing their time as volunteers to support our programme.

Good Parenting Project

Sponsored by Disney Children’s Fund

Since September 2010, this project has been funded by the Disney Children’s Fund. Through this project, it was aimed to collect the children’s voice for the community issues. We hope that the community can listen to the children’s voice and Hong Kong can become a more child-friendly city.

We have recruited 38 volunteers to participate in the volunteer training day on 30 October 2010 and the other volunteer training session in November 2010. Over 65 secondary students from 6 schools had enrolled and participated in the training camp on 18 and 19 December 2010. Through group discussion, interactive games and drama performance, the voices of children were collected for Government, families, schools and media. The volunteers and students will further conduct puppet show at schools from March to June 2011.

Good Mothers Sharing Time

In order to enhance parenting skills and knowledge for parents, a six- session Good Mothers Sharing Time was held from 4 November 2010 to 9 December 2010 in Tuen Mun Centre. It covered the topics of knowledge of children development needs, how to handle children’s misbehaviour and emotion problem, listening skills and importance of child protection. The response was encouraging and we had 30 parents participated in the course. They treasured the relationship built through group discussion and sharing, and their attitude towards child management and communication were improved. There were 14 out of 30 participants joined the Family Corner Volunteer Group in Tuen Mun Centre after they completed the course.

12 Service Users’ Gathering 2010 cum Volunteer Recognition Ceremony

In order to introduce ACA services, to collect feedbacks from service users and to introduce SPMS to service users, the Service Users’ Gathering 2010 cum Volunteer Recognition Ceremony was conducted on 17 October 2010 at the Sai Kung Recreation Centre. There were 114 participants attending the event. We have awarded 54 volunteers on the same day.

In the programme feedback form, 98% of the participants showed satisfactory to the programme. They evaluated this was an important channel for the service users to exchange their ideas with ACA and to communicate with other service users. 31st Annual Press Conference and Annual General Meeting

ACA held 31st Annual Press Conference on Friday, 19 November 2010, the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse, to announce the Agency services and statistics in the year under review and to raise the general public awareness on child protection.

In 2009/10, ACA continues to provide services including hotline, investigation and casework. A total of 876 hotline and drop-in cases were received and, 133 investigations and 136 caseworks were rendered. At the Press Conference, Mrs Priscilla Lui, the Director, continued to appeal to all, professionals in particular, to pay attention to suspected cases and give hands to children and families in need before any tragedies. Mrs Lui also suggested deploying manpower for prompt handling of suspected child abuse cases in all child care centres and kindergartens and, multidisciplinary professionals training should be made available.

To ensure children’s and citizens’ rights to participation, the Agency has been recruiting and training volunteers to join different services so as to share the mission of child protection. Mrs Lui emphasized that “Many services users, who received support and assistance from our services, have now became our volunteers and mentors.” At the Press Conference, 4 services users and 1 volunteer from Healthy Start Home Visiting Project, Daylily Project and Safe & Child Friendly Community Project in Wong Tai Sin respectively were invited to share their views on the Agency services.

In the coming years, the Agency will continue to enhance high standard management and expand education and training. Thanks to the community continuous support, the Agency’s work of child protection is widely developed. The Agency will establish a new centre as the headquarters, where training in child protection and parent education will be delivered. 13 The Annual Press Conference was followed by the 31st Annual General Meeting. We had the honour to have Mr and Mrs Grenville Cross, Mrs Selina Chow, Mrs Nancy Rhind, Mrs Anne Marden, Mr Yam Mun Ho, Ms Wendy Chau and Ms Wanda Vong.

Apart from the formal agenda of the AGM, 4 volunteers were awarded Outstanding Volunteers of the Year. They were Ms Carol Yeung, Ms Chan Yin Fung, Ms Cheung Pui Ming and Mr Chiang Lok Yin. Thank their devoted services including home visitation, service promotion and mentoring in the past years. Appreciation also extended to every volunteer for your dedicated time and effort with ACA for the mission of child protection.

We also presented souvenirs to Latham & Watkins (L&W), a true caring company, for assisting us in design, collation, translation and printing the case book named “One Small Voice” with the intention of advocate for what is needed for change at different levels to honour the best interest of the child notion. Our special appreciation to L&W and all their kind staff involved for their generosity and professionalism towards our ACA. We also special thanked to The Alpha for their performance at our different programmes in the past years. We had the honour to have them in the AGM this year and they gave excellent singing performance.

Souvenirs were also presented to Ms Lo Yin Ching and Ms Chan Chui Yuk for continuous donation and long service respectively.

We all had fun and enjoyed with games, singing performance and lucky draws.

ACA Regional Flag Day (New Territories)

ACA Regional Flag Day (New Territories) has been successfully held on Saturday, 2 October 2010. On event day, there were nearly 5,000 volunteers participating in flag selling in New Territories to raise funds for our Agency services. Together with Gold Flag donation, a net total of nearly HK$1 million was raised.

Our Flag Day would not be successful without the support from the participating schools and organisations. We would like to thank our advisors and all the supporting parties.

14 We would like to express our gratitude to following Flag Day Advisors: The Ven Sik Kok Kwong Prof Tsui Lap Chee Ms Esther Kwan The Rt Rev Thomas Soo Prof Joseph J Y Sung Ms Cha Xiao Xin The Most Rev Tong Hon John Prof Timothy Tong Mr Hacken Lee Dr Tong Yan Kai Prof Albert Chan Ms Nancy Sit Mr Charles Yang, JP Prof Anthony Cheung Mr Alan Tam Mr Ma Kam Wah Ms Nicola Cheung Ms Blanche Tang Prof Wong Po Choi Mr Cheung Ka Fai Ms Leila Tong

Acknowledgement: (In alphabetical order) Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service of Hong SKH Ka Fuk Wing Chun Primary School Kong Tin Shui Wai Integrated Youth Service Centre SKH Ma On Shan (South) Children & Youth Integrated Fu Hong Society Kwai Hing Vocational Development Service Centre Centre SKH Yan Laap Primary School Hang Yick Properties Management Limited St Andrew’s Church Housing Authority The Hong Kong Girl Guides Association The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited The Salvation Army Hong Kong Tai Po Multi-services Centre for Senior Citizen International Social Service Hong Kong Branch Sheung Shui Centre The Salvation Army Lam Butt Chung Memorial School Lai Sun Development Company Limited Times Square Learning Habitat Kindergarten & Bilingual Nursery Vigers Property Management Services (Hong Kong) Limited MTR Corporation Limited Well Born Real Estate Management Limited Peegaboo Group Yan Oi Tong Roadshow Yoshinoya