Small Group Home Service and Emergency / Short Term Care in Small Group Home

What is a small group home?

There are 6 to 8 children in each small group home, taking care of by a team of social worker, clinical psychologist, houseparent and workman. We provide family-like residential service to children, taking care of their daily life. We also render training on life skills; build up a sense of security and proper social relationship; provide study guidance, as well as nurture healthy life style and positive values for children.

We also provide different activities, professional assessments and counselling so as to facilitate healthy and holistic growth of children. Besides, we connect children with their families to enhance family relationships.

Our small group home also provide emergency and short term residential care for children whose families encounter emergency or crisis situations.

Service Targets

• Children aged 4 to 18, full-time students, in need of proper care due to various kinds of family difficulties and crises (for example : child abuse, family breakdown, parents with illness, etc..)
• Integrated small group homes also provide residential care to 1 mildly mentally handicapped child aged between 6 and 18.
• Bi-sex small group homes only accept boys aged 12 or below for the male emergency / short term care placement.
  
  

Location of our small group homes

• Ka Fuk Small Group Home I (boys small group home), II, III
• Shek Lei Small Group Home I, II, III (all are integrated small group homes)
• So Uk Small Group Home I (girls small group home), II (boys small group home), III, IV
• Tin Shui Small Group Home I, II, III
• Tin Tsz Small Group Home I, II, III
  
  

Fee

No fee for accommodation and meals, but parents/guardians need to shoulder children's personal expenses, such as daily utilities, educational expenses, transportation fee, petty cash, programme expenses, and medical expenses etc.

Service Objectives

• Support those needy families to care and nurture their children
• Provide stable family-like residential care, facilitate healthy growth of children
• Help children to build up sense of security, enhance their self-esteem and develop their potentials
• Facilitate children to build positive family relationships so as to foster family cohesion
• Form and implement the permanency plan of children together with children, families and related professionals so as to facilitate family reunion or other kinds of long-term care
  
  

Our Rationale of care

We believe

• Every child is unique and valuable
• Every family and child has its own resilience
• Healthy family-like care can facilitate children's positive growth
• Attachment is the emotional ties between children and their care givers. Secure attachment would help children to appreciate themselves and trust others
• Understanding the psychological needs of children, with appropriate care and love, can build up children's secure attachment and foster healthy growth

We would

• Provide stable and safe environment and care
• Help children to strengthen emotional ties with care givers
• Enhance the sense of security of children to acknowledge their own psychological needs
• Provide diverse activities and guidance to develop potential of children
  
  

Service Application

Small Group Home Service

• Referring social worker would apply ordinary small group home service / integrated small group home service for needy children at the Central Referral System for Residential Child Care Services (CRSRC) or Central Referral System for Rehabilitation Services (CRSRehab) of the Social Welfare Department respectively.
• Referral social workers need to fill in the form "Supplementary Information for Referral for Placement in Residential Child Care Services" when arranging children to RCCS.

Emergency / Short Term Care in Small Group Home (ESCSGH)

• Referring social worker can contact us by phone to apply emergency / short term (ESC) small group home service for children. A child's period of stay is normally from 2 weeks to 3 months under ESC.
• Referring social worker can also visit the below link to understand the provision of emergency placement for children in Hong Kong.
  
  

Service Termination

Children and their parents / guardian can request to withdraw from the service. Those who would like to withdraw please inform the supervisor / social worker of the small group home. The supervisor / social worker would contact the referring social worker, and would follow up according to the situation of the children.

We may ask a child to leave the service under the following circumstances:

• Child no longer fulfills the criteria of receiving our service.
• The actions of a child or his / her family members caused dangers to other service users or service providers of themselves.
• Our service no longer meets his /her needs.