Government Enhances Foster Care Support Amid Declining Family Participation, Introduces New Incentives and Recognition Programs

LCQ 3: Foster care service

Following is a question by Reverend Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (February 4):

Question:

It is learnt that the number of foster families has continued to decrease in recent years, making it difficult to find matches for children in need. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it will consider reviewing the substitute mechanism for foster families, including not deducting allowances during reasonable substitute periods and establishing district-based substitute support networks, such as setting up a "partner family" mechanism to enable foster families to assist each other in providing short-term care for foster children when necessary; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(2) whether it will consider formulating an inflation-linked foster care allowance for maintenance of foster children's expenses and an incentive payment for foster families, and increasing these amounts to cover foster children's reasonable expenses on learning and development activities (e.g. tutorial fees), as well as recognising the selfless contributions of foster parents; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(3) as there are views that community recognition for foster families is insufficient, whether, in order to commend the contributions of foster families and promote the building of a foster family-friendly society, the Government will encourage the business sector to launch a "Foster-Friendly Card" to provide foster parents with concessions on transport, shopping, and arts, cultural, leisure and recreational services, etc.; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, Photo source: reference image

Reply:

President,

Residential Child Care Services subsidised by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) can be categorised into institutional and non-institutional services, which provide 24-hour free-of-charge transitional residential care and protection for children and young persons who temporarily cannot be adequately cared for by their families due to various reasons. Foster care is a type of non-institutional service for children under the age of 18 who cannot be adequately cared for by their families due to various family issues or emergencies, so that they can continue to enjoy family life until they can reunite with their families or a long-term alternative welfare arrangement is reached.

The consolidated reply to the three parts of the question raised by the Reverend Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon is as follows:

To ensure children in need receive appropriate care and to encourage suitable families to join foster care service, the SWD regularly disburses allowances and incentive payment to foster parents, including Maintenance Grant for Foster Children and Incentive Payment for Foster Parents. At the same time, an additional incentive payment is also provided to foster families taking care of children with special needs or children under six years old. Furthermore, when a child is placed in a foster family, the foster parents will receive a one-off setting-up grant. These allowances and payments are adjusted annually according to the Composite Consumer Price Index.

Maintenance Grant for Foster Children is provided for foster parents to cover the foster children's monthly living expenses, including food and daily necessities. According to the existing mechanism, if a foster child is arranged by the responsible caseworker to temporarily leave the foster home for home leave, the Incentive Payment for Foster Parentsand the additional incentive payment will continue to be disbursed to the foster parents without deduction, while the Maintenance Grant for Foster Children will be deducted according to the number of days the child is temporarily away from the foster home.

If foster parents need to take leave for various reasons and cannot take care of their foster child, the foster child will be arranged to receive care service at another foster home. During the relief care arrangement period, foster care allowance will be disbursed to the foster family providing relief care to the foster child concerned until the foster child returns to the original foster family.

To improve the arrangement of relief care, the SWD launched a "one-plus-one" recruitment scheme in January 2024 to encourage members of the public who are interested in providing foster care services to submit applications together with their relatives and friends for taking care of the same foster child, so that they can swiftly stand in for one another when one party is temporarily unable to provide care. The "one-plus-one" scheme facilitates mutual support between the shared households and also saves the need for a foster child to be arranged to stay in an unfamiliar living environment.

To further strengthen support for foster care services, the Government has implemented a series of enhancement measures recent years, including substantially increasing the incentive payment for foster parents starting from April 2024 to encourage interested parties to become foster families. The monthly incentive payment of ordinary foster care service has been increased more than double from around $5,000 to about $11,000; and that for emergency foster care service has been doubled from around $6,600 to about $13,000. In the past three years, the number of registered foster families increased from 978 in 2023-24 to 1 112 in 2025-26 (as at end-2025), representing an increase of about 14 per cent.

Moreover, starting from January 2025, the Government has allocated additional resources to strengthen support to foster parents and enhance service quality, including increasing manpower of social workers in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), providing training and professional support for foster parents, providing extra support for foster children with special learning or care needs and arranging early assessments and appropriate professional rehabilitation therapy and training for them. Additional allowances are also provided for foster children to cover the expenses for extra-curricular activities, tuition classes and interest classes, etc., thereby meeting their learning and developmental needs.

In order to recognise the contributions of foster families and promote the building of a foster-friendly society, the SWD annually holds parent-child activities for foster families which provide an opportunity for foster children to express their gratitude to the foster parents. Besides, the SWD regularly holds the Foster Families Service Award Presentation Ceremony to present awards to foster families to give recognition to their care and outstanding contributions to foster children, and at the same time call on more people to join the service with a view to bringing love and care for more children in need. In addition, the SWD has been collaborating with NGOs that provide foster care services to promote foster care through various channels and media, including inviting foster parents to share their experiences of caring for foster children on media platforms so as to recognise their dedication and contribution and raise public awareness of foster care services.

The SWD will continue to review the utilisation of foster care services and will maintain communication with NGOs providing foster care services to ensure that foster care services can meet the needs of foster children and safeguard their well-being.

DH urges public to adopt healthy lifestyle and conduct regular cancer screening in support of World Cancer Day 2026

The Department of Health (DH) today (February 4) urged members of the public to adopt a healthy lifestyle and conduct regular cancer screening in support of World Cancer Day 2026.

The Department of Health (DH), Photo source: news.gov.hk

The Government attaches great importance to cancer prevention and control. Since 2004, the Cervical Screening Programme, the Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme and the Breast Cancer Screening Pilot Programme (BCSPP) have been sequentially introduced to enhance the recovery rate of patients through "early prevention, early detection and early treatment". Data show that over 80 per cent of cervical cancer cases detected through regular cervical screening were in early stages. Among the colorectal cancer cases diagnosed under the Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme, over half were early-stage. Furthermore, 97 per cent of patients diagnosed in Phase I of the BCSPP were at early stages. This indicates that regular screening can significantly increase the detection rate of early-stage cancer cases, thereby improving the recovery rate.

Over the past decade, the age-standardised mortality rate for cancer has shown a steady decline after adjusting for population age structure. Specifically, the cancer mortality rate significantly decreased by 2.8 per cent for men and 1.7 per cent for women on average every year. The five-year relative survival rate of cancer patients in Hong Kong has increased by 10 percentage points over the past decade, reaching 56 per cent, with particularly notable improvements in lung cancer survival rates. These findings demonstrate the significant effectiveness of the Government's initiatives in advancing cancer prevention and control.

"Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Hong Kong for many years, causing over 15 000 deaths in 2024. It is worth noting that obesity increases the risk of various cancers, including breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancers. Approximately 40 per cent of cancer cases can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle, such asa balanced diet, regular exercise, refraining from smoking and alcohol consumption, and maintaining a healthy body weight and waist circumference," the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the DH, Dr Edwin Tsui, said.

The DH has been promoting a healthy lifestyle as the primary strategy for cancer prevention and is committed to enhancing public awareness of cancer prevention and screening.Dr Tsui reminds the public to consult their doctors to understand the benefits and limitations of screening tests in order to make an informed decision before undergoing screening. Relevant health advice is available on the website of the CHP.

To prevent cervical cancer, the DH has been providing free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations to eligible primary schoolgirls under the Hong Kong Childhood Immunisation Programme since the 2019/20 school year. A high vaccination rate of over 90 per cent has been maintained over the past few years, significantly reducing the risk of cervical cancer in Hong Kong females. The DH also launched a one-off HPV Vaccination Catch-up Programme in December 2024, offering free catch-up vaccinations to female Hong Kong residents born between 2004 and 2008 who have not completed their HPV vaccination. At present, the estimated first-dose HPV vaccine coverage rates of eligible secondary schoolgirls and post-secondary institution female students in the first two phases are 85 per cent and 68 per cent respectively.

To prevent hepatitis B infection, the Government has been providing hepatitis B vaccines to all newborn babies since 1988. The current vaccination coverage rate among school children has reached 99 per cent. According to the Population Health Survey 2020-22, the prevalence of hepatitis B among those under 35 years old has dropped to below 1 per cent. In addition, the Primary Healthcare Commission will also launch the Hepatitis B Co-care Scheme on February 7 to identify people with chronic hepatitis B in the community at an early stage and provide long-term follow-up services, with a view to reducing their risk of having cirrhosis, liver cancer and other serious complications.

The District Health Centres (DHCs) set up by the Primary Healthcare Commission are actively promoting the Life Course Preventive Care Plan. A personalised preventive care plan is formulated to address the health needs of citizens across different life stages. DHCs identify and assist to continuously manage risk factors associated with cancers through conducting health assessments for DHC members. DHCs assist and refer eligible persons to doctors who have enlisted in the Primary Care Directory and enrolled in the government cancer screening programmes for screening. Meanwhile, DHCs and Women Wellness Satellites also provide members of the public with information related to breast cancer and cervical cancer prevention, related screening services, according to their needs. DHCs will arrange for women who are Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients or holders of valid medical fee waiver certificates to receive preventive care and health promotion services for women, including breast and cervicalcancer screenings, at selected Family Medicine Clinics or Family Medicine Integrated Centres of the Hospital Authority (HA).

The HA has implemented a host of measures to enhance cancer care services. A multidisciplinary approach is adopted for diagnostic services to provide timely investigations and diagnoses for suspected cancer patients. The HA has implemented this service model in three clusters for suspected lung cancer patients and will expand the service in phases. With the installation of new linear accelerators in HA hospitals in phases from 2024-25, the service capacity for cancer treatment will be enhanced. Meanwhile, the HA has also expanded the coverage of the Drug Formulary by incorporating new cancer treatment drugs and broadening the scope of clinical applications of existing Special Drugs. Being patient-centred, the HA has devised personalised care programmes, such as the Cancer Case Manager Programme and Systemic Anti-cancer Therapy Clinic service, to better support patients along their journey.

The Government will continue to adopt a multipronged approach to promote cancer prevention and control and consolidate Hong Kong's leading position in cancer research and prevention and control. The Government is also committed to optimising services and providing appropriate treatment for all cancer patients.

To learn more about World Cancer Day, please visit www.worldcancerday.org.

Photo source: reference image