In 2019, the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society (HKFWS) developed the “HKFWS Envisioning 2024” with five-year strategic direction and concrete implementation plan. Despite the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) over the past few years, our staff have committed themselves to accomplishing the plan and, at the same time, connecting with the current social situation to address the needs. We applied our “family-centric” intervention and engaged different sectors to collaborate with us to help families overcome adversities. During the pandemic, we received monetary and in-kind donations from a number of charities, companies, organisations and individuals to support families. We also cooperated with each other to launch programme initiatives for those in need. In addition, we conducted two surveys - “Work-life balance of families under the new normal” and “Understanding Carers’ Family Wellbeing”- which probed into the influences upon families and carers caused by the “new normal”. Based on the findings, we offered suggestions to promote the wellbeing of families and carers in a more timely and appropriate manner.

As Covid-19 receded in the past year, the Society has moved a step forward and been dedicated to advancing our “Family First Campaign” to promote the message of “family first” through an “edu-tainment” approach. We continued to adopt May as the “Family Month” and moblise our service units as well as partners from different sectors to raise public awareness on family wellbeing. We launched the family market “Homeland”, which is the first family-themed market with diversified programme activities and mutual interactions to convey the message about “Family Wellbeing in Transition”. We also held a public education campaign “PLA-mily” in late 2022 to facilitate families to learn ways to foster family wellbeing through fun and games.

Apart from the concerted efforts to advocate the “family value”, our services have also drawn public attention towards different family related issues. We applied “community engagement” approach at our work and engaged cross-sector co-operations to assist families in need. The integrated family service has introduced the “Child Protection In Action” project to enable community members to early identify children in crisis and, at the same time, encourage positive parenting and boost social awareness on child protection. The foster care service has carried out the “Fostering Love Blessing Families” programme to promote the service and invite families to consider to join as foster families to take care of children in vulnerable situations. The elderly service has developed the "Carers Support Project”, which acknowledged the contribution of carers for elderly and to co-create a carer friendly community. To address the adolescent mental health issue, the youth service has initiated the “Power T.A.G. - Boosting Inner Strength Project” to bolster the inner strength of young people, improve family resilience and foster family values. The mediation service has started the Jockey Club’s “Happy Family with M.E.” which provides an on-line self-learning platform for family members to acquire knowledge and skills to resolve family conflicts in a rational and amicable way so as to enhance their family relationship.

With our aspiration to promote “family wellbeing”, the Society conducted the second territory-wide Hong Kong Family Wellbeing Index (HKFWI) to provide updated information about the subject matter. The findings revealed that, among the six domains that affect family wellbeing, “social connection” and “social resources” recorded a significant drop in scores. It has driven us to deliberate how to support families in these areas of concern and advocate for their wellbeing. Our efforts included conducting a study “Social Support to Families by Property Management Companies and Neighbours” which involved the participation from a number of property management companies. Based on the results, we advocated for strengthening community network and public education to enable more interaction within and outside families in order to enhance their “social connection” and “social resources”.

Alongside with the strategic development of the Society, strengthening manpower capacity is one of our pivotal concerns. We have established the “HKFWS Formula” to enable our staff to understand our “family-centric” approach and apply it in service delivery. Hence, they “can tell”, “can do” and also appreciate “why it is worth doing”. We have also set up the “Internal Attachment Programme” and arranged staff to attach to other service units to experience the different service settings and operations so as to facilitate more exchange and collaboration. In addition, we have launched the “Social Work Engagement Programme on Professional Development” for social work graduates-to-be (Bachelor’s Degree and Master Degree). Through a series of pre-vocational experience, they could learn about the Society and our services, so that they may consider joining us in the future.

During this year, the Society has implemented the “Project Transform” including enhancing our leadership structure, executive teams, executive meetings and central administrative functions, as well as developing leadership talents. It is expected that these changes can facilitate the succession and advancement of the Society and further its contributions and impact in the community.

While the HKFWS Envisioning is founded upon the achievement of our predecessors, its actualisation hinges on HKFWS members of our generation. I would like to express my gratitude for the support of the Executive Committee and the contribution by our staff, which have led the Society to expand in diversity while staying focused, and to innovate new services and approaches in facing the everlasting changes. We would also like to thank many organisations, corporates and individuals who have been supporting the Society and joining hands with us to co-create a caring society which promotes family wellbeing as the core. 

Ms. Amarantha Yip
Chief Executive
Hong Kong Family Welfare Society