Prevention - A Professional-Volunteer Home Visitation Model for Single Mothers to Prevent Child Abuse

According to the Statistics from the Department of Hong Kong in 2011, there were 64,040 single mothers and 8.1% of them were aged below 30. Nearly 80% of these mothers were the main carers of their children. They need a lot of... [ view full abstract ]

According to the Statistics from the Department of Hong Kong in 2011, there were 64,040 single mothers and 8.1% of them were aged below 30. Nearly 80% of these mothers were the main carers of their children. They need a lot of support to face various challenges in child rearing and child management. To support those using positive means to manage their young children and to prevent child abuse, the Hong Kong Against Child Abuse launched a project to provide volunteer home visitation for single mothers since April 2010. Volunteers are screened individually to assess their suitability to provide home visitation services. They need to receive training in areas such as children’s developmental needs and behaviours, communication skills, positive parenting and home safety knowledge.

A total of 400 volunteers complete the training. Nearly 500 single mothers and children have received home visitation services from 2010 to 2016. Most of them are recruited from the Paediatric Department and the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of a public hospital, integrated family service centres and non-governmental organizations. The Project provides monthly home visitation, phone contact, children’s group, parents’ group and family outing to the targeted families. Over 90% of them have improved in parenting and home safety knowledge. The mothers also reported that they would not leave their children unattended and would not use corporal punishment on their children after receiving the project services. Some mothers are empowered to share their experiences and appeal to those who have similar needs to seek help. This presentation will focus on the objectives, service model, its effectiveness and implications of the model development.