Foster Care Service and Emergency Foster Care Service

Service Mission

Foster Care Service

Provides residential family care to children whose parents cannot adequately take care of them due to various reasons, so that they can continue to enjoy family life until they can re-unite with their families, join an adoptive family or live independently.

Emergency Foster Care Service

Provides an immediate and short-term (usually within 6 weeks) residential family care to children whose parents cannot care for them due to emergency or crisis situations, so that they can continue to enjoy family life until they can reunite with their families or secure a long-term placement.

Service Objectives

1. Supervise and support foster families to provide foster children with a stable family lives, let the children grow and develop healthily in a caring, loving and safe environment.
2. Promote self-esteem and self-confidence of foster children, strengthen their problem solving ability and fully utilize their potentials.
3. Facilitate positive and productive relationship among children and their families, so as to promote the cohesiveness of families.
4. Support the children’s families to face and resolve their problems, as well as to enhance their family functioning, so as to facilitate early home restoration or long-term alternative care.

Service Content

After receiving referrals, our social workers will:

1. Contact the referring worker, the child and his / her families to understand their needs and to confirm the caring arrangement of the child.
2. Match suitable foster homes to the child according to the needs of the child and the family.
3. Facilitate consensus on service agreement among all parties and admit the child to the foster family.
4. Visit and contact the foster family, supervise and support the foster parents to provide proper care to the child.
5. Visit the child to understand his / her adjustment in the foster home, and to provide support to the child.
6. Facilitate contacts between the child and his / her family.
7. Collaborate with referring worker, child’s guardian and other parties to facilitate the permanency plan of the child, and to support the family to face their difficulties.

Service Target

Children between newborn and under 18 years of age, in need of proper care due to family difficulties and crises (for example : child abuse or neglect, family breakdown, parents with illness and etc..), normal in health and intelligence or mildly mentally handicapped.

Service Application

Foster Care Service

• All applications have to be assessed and referred by social workers of social service units to Central Foster Care Unit of Social Welfare Department.
• Referral social workers need to fill in the form "Supplementary Information for Referral for Placement in Residential Child Care Services" when arranging children to RCCS.

Emergency Foster Care Service

• All applications have to be assessed and referred by social workers of social service units to our Foster Care Service. 
• For those applying for Foster Care Service or Emergency Foster Care Service, please contact the integrated family service centers, medical social service units or other social service units of your district of residence for assessment and referrals.

Fee

• Foster Care Service is fully subvented by the government, and no service charge was required.
• Parents/ guardians need to shoulder children's education related expenses and medical expenses.

Service Termination

With respect to the will of the child, guardian of child may request to leave the service on behalf of the child. Requests may be made to foster care worker and referring worker. 

We may ask a child to leave the service under the following circumstances:

• Child no longer fulfills the criteria of receiving foster care service.
• The actions of a child or his/her family members caused dangers to other service users or service providers or themselves.
• Our service no longer meets his/her needs.

Being a Foster Parent

Nowadays, many kids are waiting for foster families to provide them with harmony and stable family care, so that they may learn to trust themselves and others. Would you like to help these children? Do you know somebody who can help these children? 

You may bring warmth, care, concern and love to these children! 

If you would like to learn more about Foster Care Service, or to explore if you are suitable to be a foster parent, please contact our duty officer at 2492-6088. 

The ideal foster parents should preferably have:

• Happy family life and stable living
• Fondness for children, experience and ability in child care
• Arrangement of adequate care plan for the child
• Good health and stable emotion
• Reached the age of 25 or above
• Primary education standard or above
• Tidy, clean and safe living condition with adequate living space
• Readiness to accept social worker's investigation and guidance