Solomon's Porch

SPFAM (Fostering & Adoption)

God created families and designed for every person to be born into one to receive love and nurture. However, the fall had caused families to breakdown and children uncared for or neglected. We want to show them the love of Christ by taking them in and providing them with a safe and loving family.

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the LORD will take me up.
Psalm 27:10
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 1:27

Situation in Hong Kong

  • Shelters taking in Hong Kong’s abused children are constantly full to the brim. This means that children facing abuse and neglect at home cannot be moved to a safe place in time. (Source SCMP, 2 May 2016)
  • Due to the lack of government or private placements, babies who are born and whose parents have relinquished their parental rights have no place to go but to remain in the hospital. However, this means that the babies are not receiving the necessary cognitive stimulation through consistent one-on-one interaction with a primary care giver. Thus their cognitive, physical and emotional developments could be stunted.
  • According to official statistics, 892 cases were reported to the Child Protection Register in 2016, compared with 874 in 2015 and 856 in 2014 . (Source SCMP, 14 January 2018)
  • Just in the first 9 months of 2017, the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department handled 704 child abuse cases. This averages 78 cases per month. This is an increase compared to an average of 71 to 74 cases per month in the preceding years. But this does not reflect the true picture of child abuse in Hong Kong as many are hidden cases that remain undetected, especially those that involves mental or verbal abuse rather than physical harm. (Source SCMP, 12 January 2018)
  • The reasons for child abuse or child neglect could be multifaceted ranging from drug abuse to poverty to the inadequacy of Hong Kong child protection laws to a lack of day care services for working parents (the list goes on).

 

How does SP respond?

  • SP responds to the situation in Hong Kong by raising awareness within the church body.
  • We want to be examples of Christ by opening up our homes to foster children in need.
  • We also work with various NGOs to organize information sessions on foster care, invite guest speakers to preach about the orphan issue and let the Holy Spirit work in us.
  • At the moment, we have 7 approved foster families and a few more which are in the process of being approved.
  • There are generally 3 types of foster families which you can consider:
    1. Ordinary foster care – this is a longer term placement where the average duration is 6 months or above
    2. Emergency foster care – this is when a child needs to be in a foster home urgently. This means that the foster family is put on shorter notice but the placement duration is also shorter. The average duration is around 6 weeks and extendable upon review.
    3. Relief foster care – this is when an ordinary or emergency foster family are unable to foster for certain days, the relief foster family will step in. The average duration could range from a few days to a few weeks.

For more information, please email [email protected]