Foster Care Service
Introduction
- Foster Care
Foster Care provides residential family care for children whose parents cannot adequately take care of them due to special family circumstances, so that they can continue to enjoy family life until they re-unite with their families, join an adoptive family or live independently. - Foster Care (Emergency)
Foster Care (Emergency) provides immediate and short-term residential family care for children whose parents cannot care for them because of emergency or crisis situations. The duration of care should not exceed 6 weeks.
Service Target
Children under 18 years old may receive foster care and foster care (emergency) service.
Foster Parents
- Foster parents should love children, have experience and competence in child care and be capable of arranging proper child care plan for the children. For details of the requirements of foster parents, please refer to the leaflet 'Qualities of Ideal Foster Parents'.
- SWD, in collaboration with foster care service agencies, organises regular training workshops, seminars as well as liaison and sharing groups in various districts to collect opinions from foster families and understand their needs in order to achieve continuous improvement and development of foster care service.
Application
- Children in need of Foster Care
May contact Integrated Family Services Centres, Medical Social Services Units or other social services units for arrangement of assessment and referral. - Becoming a Foster Parent
May contact Central Foster Care Unit of SWD for enquiry.
| Address: | Room 2202, 22/F., Southorn Centre, 130 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Telephone: | 2573 2282 |
| Fax: | 2573 2120 |
| Email: | cfcuenq@swd.gov.hk |
| Working Hours: | Monday to Friday 8:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Closed on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday |
Fees and Charges
- Foster care service is free of charge.
- Foster parents will receive Foster Care Allowance for maintenance of foster children's monthly expenses. In addition, they will receive Incentive Payment which is non-taxable.
Leaflet
| Item / Name | Download File / Link |
|---|---|
| Welcome to Foster Care | PDF / Other languages |
| Qualities of Ideal Foster Parents | |
| Training Programmes for Foster Care Service 2022-23 (Traditional Chinese version only) |
Videos of Foster Care Service
Please click the link to browse videos of foster care service.
Foster Care Service Newsletters
The newsletters include reports on the latest updates of foster care service, training and publicity activities so that foster parents, foster children, referring social workers and foster care workers can grasp the updated development of foster care service.
| Item / Name | Download File |
|---|---|
| Newsletter of December 2023 (Traditional Chinese version only) | |
| Newsletter of December 2022 (Traditional Chinese version only) | |
| Newsletter of December 2021 (Traditional Chinese version only) | |
| Newsletter of December 2020 (Traditional Chinese version only) | |
| Newsletter of September 2019 (Traditional Chinese version only) | |
| Newsletter of September 2018 (Traditional Chinese version only) |
Service Statistics
As at end of December 2023, the service statistics on foster care service are as follows:
| Number of Foster Home | 969 |
|---|---|
| Number of Foster Children in Placement | 844 |