Professional Workshop on “Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting for Social Workers” – 20/9/2025

A Professional Workshop on “Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting for Social Workers”, organized by the School of Social Work of Gratia Christian College, was successfully held on 20 September 2025. More than 120 participants including frontline practitioners, social service administrators, social work educators and students attended the workshop in our newly furnished college campus in Mei Foo.

The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance (cap 650), which mandates 25 categories of specified professionals from the social welfare, education and healthcare sectors to report serious child abuse cases, will commence on January 20, 2026, to create a wide and effective protection web for children. The Government recently introduced a Guide for Mandated Reporters, covering basic knowledge on the legal and reporting matters related to the ordinance, including the key content of the ordinance, a brief introduction to the guide, analysis of common scenarios, reporting procedures and post-reporting follow-up. In view of the urgent needs to understand the contents of the Ordinance as well as the Guide, the School of Social Work decided to organize a professional workshop for the practitioners, educators and students in the field of social work to enhance the practical knowledge and ability of the professionals working in the industry.

We were very grateful that Ms. LEE Yuen-sum Joyce, MH, who is the Agency Director of Hong Kong Children and Youth services and a member in the Working Group on Child Protection under the HKSAR Commission on Children, gave a speech on multidisciplinary collaboration for child protection.  Two legal professionals including Mr. Dennis NG, Solicitor, and Mr. Schweitzer WONG, Barrister, explained the details of the main concerns in the legislative process and introduced the legal elements and spirits of the Ordinance.  Finally, Ms. Sherry IP, Service Supervisor and her colleague Ms. Teresa YAU, Speech Therapist of The Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong Social Service shared their front-line experience and practice dilemmas when tackling the reporting issues.

Professor CHUI Hong-sheung, PhD, BBS, JP, President of Gratia Christian College in the welcoming remarks expressed that the College is dedicated to cultivate students’ servant leadership aiming to make changes for the betterment of the society.  Professor Helen Ho, PhD, Head of the School of Social Work, concluded the seminar by encouraging the participants to care and protect our children with CHRIST values and spirits of social work professionalism.