Hong Kong Family Welfare Society

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Hong Kong Family Welfare Society

Type	Non-governmental Organization
Founded	1938, Hong Kong
Headquarters	WanChai, Hong Kong
Key people	Donald Tsang (Patron) Maria Tam Wai-Chu (President)
Products	Home Help, Foster Care, Elderly and Community Support, Family Aid Services, Single-parent Family Services, Clinical Psychological Services
Slogan	A family-oriented, people love themselves and others
Website	Hong Kong Family Welfare Society Official Website

The Hong Kong Family Welfare Society (HKFWS; 香港家庭福利會) is a non-governmental organization that runs on subsidies donated by the government, donations from Community Chest and individual sponsorships. HKFWS focuses on quality and professional social services through a family perspective that aims to enrich and enhance the well-being of families and individuals in Hong Kong. Services such as counseling are used to help reconcile issues related to family, marriage, and friendship to help prevent family breakups and other societal problems. The HKFWS now has over 30 service centers and networks helping families across Hong Kong.

HKFWS's official mission statement helps define and describe the nature of the Society in terms of its purpose and aim:

"With a family perspective, we are committed to delivering quality and professional social services to enhance the well-being of families and individuals in Hong Kong and to foster a caring community."

HKFWS strives to achieve these aims through staff enrichment and development, pioneering service projects to meet changing needs of the people, advocate a comprehensive public policy for needy families, trust, confidentiality and empowerment of individuals.

1 History
2 Achievements
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

The "Hong Kong Family Welfare Society" was formally known as the Social Service Centre of the Churches. It was founded in 1938, but only became a public agency on January 1st, 1949. The Society started out by being heavily involved with relief work after World War II. After concerns for the growth of distressed families resonated with the members, the Society further expanded their scope of outreach. Today, the bulk of their work revolves around counselling families with management difficulties or communication issues. In addition, the Society focuses on preventive measures for family problems, resulting in the creation of Family Life Education in 1971. Other services like Home Help, School Social Work services, Clinical Psychological services and Foster Care came about in 1971, 1979 and 1984 respectively.

[edit] Development of HKFWS

HKFWS has regularly introduced and experimented with an array of services including:

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1. Family Resource Centre in Tuen Mun
2. 'Drop-in' Services for Single Parents
3. Mental Health Services
4. Senior Social Work Practice
5. Therapeutic Group for Abusive Families
6. Emergency Foster Care
7. Volunteer Service
8. Family Aide Services
9. Services for New Arrivals from the Mainland
10. Carers Support Service
11. Peer/Divorce/Family Mediation Service
12. Family Retreat Centre
13. Clinical Psychological Service
14. Youth Employment
15. Community Rehabilitation & Pain Relief Service

These services cater to the new and evolving needs of citizens and families alike. One noticeable programme since 1997 is the Integrated Elderly and Community Support Serivce to help alleviate the problems associated with an aging population. Between 2002 and 2004, the Society made help accessible by piloting programs on Integrated Family Service Centres at its West Kowloon, East Kowloon (Shun Lee) and New Territories (Kwai Fong) Centres. HKFWS ultimately aims to become a one-stop service family centre. For information on these centres please click the following:

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[edit] Programmes and Services

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One of the main methods of relieving tension in families is the use of mediation. This is vital due to the sharp increase in divorce rates in Hong Kong and the lack of communication between parents and children. Mediation is used in a bid to help salvage the family situation. It teaches individuals to reach a settlement acceptable to all parties that can help sustain long-term relationships with their spouses and children. The Society also provides 5 broad types of services and programs namely; Special and Innovative Services, Children and Youth, Elderly and Community, Family and Child Care. The Special and Innovative Services includes programmes for employment and fund assistance.

HKFWS also has a subsidiary association called the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society Mediation Centre where seminars and mediation services are available to the public.

[edit] Funding

Due to the nature of the HKFWS as a NGO, the Society relies largely on donations from the public and even the government. Important sources come from the Community Chest, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, Civic Minded Companies, Charitable Foundations and Individual Sponsorships.

[edit] Structure

The HKFWS is made up of talented employees and a team of dedicated volunteers. The Society is comprised of the following committees:

Patron
President
Executive Committee
Honorary Legal Advisor
Foster Care Service Advisory Committee
Benefactors Fund Allocation Committee
Family Mental Health Group Advisory Committee
Senior Citizen Centre (Kowloon City) Advisory Committee
Family Resource Centre Advisory Committee
Family Retreat Centre Management Committee
New Arrivals Project Management Committee
Family Retreat Centre Advisory Committee
Home Care Advisory Committee

For a more detailed list of the structure and committee members please refer to HKFWS' official website here

[edit] Volunteer Service

The Society has an intervention strategy to develop an active volunteer service to empower individuals by encouraging them to be volunteers. To promote a caring community, there are co-operative partnerships with business enterprises, government bodies and voluntary organizations to enhance service provision with different professions.

Corporate Volunteer

The function of the Corporate Volunteer Service is to enhance cross sector co-operation that bridges voluntary organizations and service users to volunteers. This brings about mutual benefits like the enrichment of the service provision with different professions. Over the years, many corporations, schools, non-profit organizations and government bodies have played their part in providing services to the HKFWS service users that consists of ethnic minorities, children, elderly, and foster care families.

Family Volunteer

The organization seeks to advocate family volunteering so that family members will have shared experiences and be able to communicate to produce solidarity.

[edit] Achievements

At present, the revamped services operated by the Society includes 5 Integrated Family Service Centres, 8 Integrated Home Care Teams (in 15 centres), 1 Integrated Children and Youth Service Centre and 1 Neighbourhood Elderly Centre.

[edit] Campaigns & Activities

The HKFWS and its many branches have also participated in many campaigns co-organized by Ho-Sum that has allowed members to interact with the elderly, handicapped, young children, youths and volunteers. These campaigns are aimed at building relationships between family units and the Hong Kong society.

Dress Up Your Bear Bear Campaign (sharing and dressing up teddy bears with the community for Christmas)

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July 31, 2004. Hong Kong Family Welfare Society - Health Village Centre

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October 30, 2004. Hong Kong Family Welfare Society - Artiste Training Alumni Association Youth Square

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November 13, 2004. Hong Kong Family Welfare Society - Kowloon City

Ho-Sum DIY T-Shirt Session (hand painted t-shirts that would be given to mothers as gifts for Mothers' Day)

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April 20, 2006. Hong Kong Family Welfare Services - East Kowloon Integrated Services Center

The Society also tries to engage the participation of the community by creating awareness and support through activities such as selling flags.

Flag Day 2004 Chinese Text Only

[edit] Events

Some notable events that aim at integrating the community and increase bonding and interaction among service users are as follows:

“My Old Days” Album Production Project by Family Volunteers
HKFWS Christmas Party 2004
Christmas Party of Integrated Family Services for New Arrivals
Quality Parenting Forum
Programmes to Foster Harmony within Families
“Peer Mediation Project” (2003/04) Graduation Ceremony
Seminar of Further Development Trend on the Local Home Care Services & Carer Services

[edit] Community Partnerships

Caltex Children Developement Fund

To provide short-term financial assistance to children from families in need so that they can enjoy proper care, full potential development and have healthy growth in physical, psychological, social and learning aspects.

For more information please refer to:

[edit] Research

The Society has a strong commitment to research that is rooted in an "evidence-based practice". These researches aim at enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of service provision, and speaks up for minority groups. To date, 11 research studies have been conducted on the services of School Social Work, Family Casework, Integrated Family Service Centres, Child Protection Registry, Alternative to Violence Project, Peer Mediation, and various problems involving secondary school and primary school students. The results of these research studies have facilitated improvement of services provided.

Some of the topics of research studies include:

Evaluation on Participants’ Satisfaction Towards Alternative to Violence Project
Evalutation on Participants' Satisfaction Towards Family Volunteer Movement Project
Evaluation on the Peer Mediation Projects
Study on Batterer Intervention Programme and Outcome Management in Hong Kong 2004
Study on Child Protection Registry submitted by HKFWS 1999-2003
Survey on Key Elements for Creating Harmony Within Families
Study on Progress on Goal Achievement for Clients Receiving Counselling Service 2001 -2003
Survey on Users of Integrated Family Service Centres About Their Stress and Outcome of Using the Service

[edit] Publications

HKFWS has several publications that focus on different aspects of its research and services. These include research reports, problem solving guides, case studies, care service guides and a VCD. Some of the publications include:

1. Marriage Enrichment Couple Course Manual
2. Empowering Families - A Collection of Concepts & Methods
3. Report on Independence in Home Care – Home Help and Community Occupational Therapy Service
4. The Family Functioning of Newly Arrived Families in Hong Kong
5. Manual on School Social Work - Crisis Management (2nd Edition)
6. An Evaluation Study of Group Therapy for Male Batterers Cum Intervention
7. An Exploratory Study on the Outcomes of Foster Care Service: Emotions and Behaviour of Foster Children Satisfaction and Difficulties Experienced by Birth Parents and Foster Parents
8. An Exploratory Study on Self-reliance of Low Income Families
9. Home-training Manual to Care-givers Of Elders: Fight Against SARS
10. Research on Exploration on Parenting Difficulties

For a full list of publications please refer to HKFWS' Official Website here

[edit] See also

1. Speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr. Henry Tang, on November 12th at the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society 55th Annual General Meeting in London:

2. Speech by The Hon. Mr. Justice Hartmann, Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, at the Opening Ceremony of Hong Kong Eastern (Healthy Village) CentreHong on 26th November 1999

3. Director's Words by Mrs. Cecilia Kwan (Director of HKEWS Executive Committee 05/06)

4. Social welfare services for single parent families in Hong Kong: a paradox

5. Biting the invisible hand - social welfare in Hong Kong

6. T.L. Shek, Mong Chow Lam, Chor Fai Au, and J.J. Lee, "Advances in Social Welfare in Hong Kong Daniel", Columbia University Press, March 2003 (ISBN 962-996-025-7)

7. Hong Kong Family Welfare Society, "Hong Kong Family Welfare Society 40th anniversary commemorative issue, 1949-1989.", Hong Kong : the Society, 1990

8. Lam, Gladys L. T., "Foster care service in the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society : client profile and operational procedures", Hong Kong : Hong Kong Family Welfare Society], 1992.

9. "Hong Kong Family Welfare Society : peer mediation programme : implementation guide / [organizer, Hong Kong Family Welfare Society ; sponsor, The HongKong Bank Foundation].", Hong Kong : Hong Kong Family Welfare Society, Mediation Centre, 2003.