Accepted: 19 April 2018

DOI: 10.1111/aswp.12144

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Family-centered kindergarten social work services in Hong

Kong: A pilot project

Yuk King Lau | Wai Ming Ho

Department of Social Work, The Chinese

University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Abstract
China Social work services at schools in Hong Kong will begin a new chapter in kinder-
Correspondence gartens in 2018–2019 school year. Early childhood professionals have long consid-
Yuk King Lau, Department of Social Work, ered family-centered service delivery best practice. This paper reports a pioneer
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong
Kong, China. project on a family-centered approach in kindergarten social work services in Hong
Email: yklau@cuhk.edu.hk Kong. The project was illustrated according to the following family-centered princi-
Funding information ples: (a) The family as the unit of attention, (b) Linking families with community
Lee Hysan Foundation resources, (c) Flexible and individualized service provision, and (d) Creating partner-
ships and supportive relationships. The value and contributions of family-centered
social work services in kindergartens and implications for social work training in
Hong Kong are discussed.

KEYWORDS
family-centered practice, Hong Kong, kindergarten social work services

1 | INTRODUCTION

1.1 | Kindergarten social work: A new era of school social work service in Hong Kong
Social work services were first introduced to schools in Hong Kong in the 1970s. Although services were initially only provided at secondary
schools, they were introduced to primary schools in August 2002 (Tang, Fung, & Lau, 2005), and their long-awaited extension to kindergartens
finally occurred in 2018. In the 2018–2019 budget, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary (2018, clause 178)allocated HK$504 million to launch a
three-year pilot scheme beginning in the 2018–2019 school year to provide social work services to approximately 150,000 children and their
families in all aided childcare centers, kindergartens, and kindergarten-cum-child care centers in Hong Kong.
The extension of social work services to kindergartens in Hong Kong comes as a response to several serious cases of abuse involving
young children. Among these, on 6 January 2018, a 5-year-old girl died of brain damage after her father and stepmother hurled her into the
air with such force that her head hit the ceiling. During their investigation, police found that the girl had suffered from prolonged neglect and
physical abuse. Although she had obvious wounds and bruises, the kindergarten had failed to take appropriate action to protect her or to help
her family. The tragedy aroused significant social concern of child abuse in Hong Kong and a discussion over ways to prevent it, as well as
stressing the need to provide adequate professional support to kindergarten principals, teachers, students, and their families. In the months fol-
lowing the girl’s death, several other cases of child abuse came to light that further intensified concerns over trends of child abuse and neglect
in Hong Kong.
In the past decade, mounting challenges in child development, parenting, and family relationships resulting from social, demographic, and
family changes in Hong Kong have prompted the social service sector to intensely advocate the extension of school social work services to
kindergartens in the region (Yiu, 2013). In Hong Kong, kindergarten and kindergarten-cum-childcare centers offer services to all children aged
3–6 years, and even before the extension of free education in Hong Kong to encompass kindergarten in the 2017–2018 school year, the gross

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© 2018 The Authors. Asian Social Work and Policy Review Published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

116 | wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/aswp Asian Soc Work Pol Rev. 2018;12:116–126.

LAU AND HO | 117

enrollment rate at kindergartens has long been 100% or more (Committee on Free Kindergarten Education, 2015). It reflects that some children
enroll in two half-day programs. Collectively, kindergartens thus represent the most inclusive system with full, direct access to children during
early childhood and their families.
To demonstrate the values of social work services in kindergartens in Hong Kong and to examine models of feasible practice, pilot projects
with short-term funding have been conducted. This paper reports one such project regarding the Boys’ Brigade Hong Kong and its family-cen-
tered approach to social work services in kindergarten. The following section describes the situations and mounting challenges of families in
Hong Kong, especially those with young children. Thereafter, the paper discusses mainstream social work models at schools in Hong Kong.

1.2 | Situations and challenges for families with children in Hong Kong
Although below the necessary replacement level of 2.1, Hong Kong’s fertility rate rebounded from a historical low of 0.90 in 2003 to 1.23
in 2014 (Census and Statistics Department, 2015b). Likewise, the percentage of children aged 0–5 years in Hong Kong’s total population
rose from 3.2% in 2006 to 3.7% in 2011 and 4.1% in 2016. Despite these increases, the population of young children in Hong Kong
remains remarkably low. One reason is that couples tend to have only one child; in 2016, 63.1% of domestic households with children less
than <15 years of age indeed had only one child (Census and Statistics Department, 2017a). Without siblings and subject to widespread iso-
lationist practices in childcare (Fleer, 2003), many young children in Hong Kong are alone at home, accompanied by security devices and
attractive toys instead of siblings or peers while their parents are occupied with employment or housework. Such trends have consequently
increased the demand for quality early childhood programs, as well as underscoring their significance for facilitating children’s holistic
development.
Among the contextual factors of the persistently high coverage rate of kindergarten centers in Hong Kong, the growing number of dual-
earning families figures prominently (Wong & Rao, 2015). Statistics from 2011 revealed that 49.9% of families with children aged 0–9 were
dual-earning families, an increase from 43.9% in 2001 (Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2014). In such families, grandparents and foreign
domestic helpers are often children’s primary caregivers after school (Hong Kong Institute of Asia–Pacific Studies, 2017; Hong Kong Institute
of Family Education, 2015). Consequently, parents in such families are uncommonly stressed, not only because of difficulties striking a balance
between their work and family lives, but also as a result of conflicts with caregivers over the care and discipline of their children.
Meanwhile, parents without adequate childcare support, especially mothers in low-income households, often opt to become full-time stay-
at-home parents. Such parents have tended to report the greatest levels of parenting stress because of economic pressures and the responsi-
bility of taking care of children alone without assistance. Although their children’s attendance at kindergarten mitigates some of this stress,
most kindergartens in Hong Kong operate on a half-day basis (i.e. 3–3.5 hr/day). The lack of adequate full day care not only leaves mothers to
shoulder the burden of childcare but also prevents many of them from engaging in meaningful employment (Hong Kong Institute of Asia–Paci-
fic Studies, 2017).
Other challenges for families with children in Hong Kong have arisen as a result of growing family diversity. Given the prevalence of cross-
border marriages in Hong Kong since the 1980s and the influx of mothers from mainland China who gave birth in Hong Kong from 2001 to
2013, many young children in the region were born to mainland mothers. Based on quota sampling, a recent survey addressing family care
arrangements of kindergarten students in Hong Kong revealed that >21% of parents were new immigrants who had lived in Hong Kong for
<7 years (Hong Kong Institute of Asia–Pacific Studies, 2017). Facing personal struggles adjusting to their new home, these parents also
expressed a high level of parenting stress. Other studies have highlighted the financial constraints, employment challenges, lack of social sup-
port, and marital maladjustment of adult immigrants in Hong Kong, as well as young immigrants’ struggles adjusting to new languages and new
schools, and achieving psychological well-being in their new environments (Policy 21 Limited, 2011; Lee & Chen, 2012).
Among the challenges for families with children, Hong Kong’s divorce rate has risen considerably in recent decades. The crude divorce rate
increased from 1.1 per 1,000 people in 1991 to a record high of 3.1 per 1,000 in 2013 (Census & Statistics Department, 2015a). As the Cen-
sus and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2018)has highlighted, the number of divorce decrees granted nearly
tripled between 1991 and 2016. Meanwhile, the number of remarriages of either or both divorced parties rose from 3,333 in 1986 to 17,300
in 2016, constituting 34.6% of all marriages compared to only 7.7% in 1986 (Census & Statistics Department, 2017d). With the rapidly rising
rate of remarriage and the increase of remarried families in Hong Kong in recent years, the proportion of single parents to persons living with
children aged <18 increased from 5.3% in 2006 to 6.1% in 2011, followed by a slight decrease to 5.9% in 2016 (Census & Statistics Depart-
ment, 2017c). Moreover, a considerable proportion occupy a financially precarious position, characterized by a median monthly domestic
household income of HK$14,820 compared to HK$25,000 for all domestic households in Hong Kong. Lone parenting in single-parent house-
holds and post-divorce co-parenting across households, especially among multiple parental figures, can be both more or less stressful and tax-
ing (Cheung, 2004; Lau, 2017; Law, 1991; Lee & Law, 1994; Tai, 2005).
When such households include children with special needs, conflict between the couple post-separation or post-divorce tends to escalate
(Lau, 2017), underscoring the necessity of paying special attention to families with such needs in Hong Kong. In a certain light, meeting their
needs constitutes a more pressing concern than ever before. According to the report of the Legislative Council Panel on Education
118 | LAU AND HO

Subcommittee on Integrated Education (2014), the number of primary and secondary school students with special education needs in Hong
Kong rose from 21,720 in the 2009–2010 school year to 33,830 in 2013–2014. Likewise, the figure for kindergarten students was estimated
at 12,500, or 7.4% of the kindergarten population, in 2014 (Hong Kong Institute of Education, 2014). Despite the Social Welfare Department’s
Pilot Scheme on Onsite Preschool Rehabilitation Services launched in 2015, support for both the parents and teachers of children with special
needs remains inadequate, especially before a formal assessment of the child’s needs has been conducted (Hong Kong Society for the Protec-
tion of Children, 2015). Such support has been limited to talks, workshops, and seminars to gain knowledge and skills applicable to identifying
and working with children with special needs (Social Welfare Department, 2015), and as a result, personal guidance and additional forms of
family support remain unavailable. The challenge is particularly acute for children born to parents from mainland China because of the need to
make cross-border living arrangements and the poor support services for parents with nonresident status in Hong Kong, who are not entitled
access to social services and can only reside in Hong Kong as temporary residents (Lau, 2016).
Finally, the increasing number of children of ethnic minority in Hong Kong and the challenges that their families encounter also demand
attention (Census and Statistics Department, 2017b). A recent survey found that >60% of surveyed kindergartens provided school notices in
Chinese only (Hong Kong Unison Limited, 2015). Struggling to access necessary information without adequate language support, ethnic minor-
ity parents face significant obstacles to actively participating in their children’s kindergarten education and school-related activities.

1.3 | The mainstream model of social work services at schools in Hong Kong
Originally an extension of family services of nongovernmental organizations, social work services at schools in Hong Kong during the earliest
phase of service provision primarily served families genuinely in need, rather than children or youth in schools (Chui & Ling, 2014). Later, they
were re-categorized as core personal social services for young people that were deemed necessary to prevent and reduce juvenile delinquency
(Wong, 2000). The re-categorization refocused the delivery of services from the family as a whole to individual students. Today, the individual-
ized focus of services is clear in a description on the Social Welfare Department (2018) webpage: “School social work service aims to identify
and help students with academic, social or emotional problems, maximise their educational opportunities, develop their potentials and prepare
them for responsible adulthood.”
By contrast, Hong Kong’s Guidelines on Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration in School Social Work Service (Task Group on Multi-Disciplinary
Guidelines on School Social Work Service, 2000) maintains a more inclusive conception of the services by stressing that, although students are
the primary concern of social workers at schools, social workers should also work with students’ families as an integral unit. Nevertheless, stud-
ies have shown that social workers at schools in Hong Kong generally engage in individual-oriented rather than system-oriented practice (Liu,
1997; To, 2007). Although working with parents and liaising with teachers are core activities of social workers at schools, children’s parents,
teachers, and peers are usually included in efforts to achieve clinical goals focused on individual changes, rather than systemic changes in the
family or school system (Liu, 1997). Even when applying the empowerment model, social workers at schools in Hong Kong prioritize a micro-
emphasis focused on individual empowerment (To, 2007).
The feedback provided by parents in an evaluation study of a large pilot project on social work services at kindergartens in Hong Kong
reflected similar individual-oriented approaches (Yiu, 2013). Despite overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding the benefits of the services
for students, the enthusiasm of social workers, and the accessibility of school-based services, the most frequently suggested improvement was
to strengthen the social workers’ contact with parents. In particular, parents hoped that social workers at schools would take greater initiative
to understand their needs, help them to understand their children through parent–child activities, facilitate parent groups, and pay greater
attention to the unique needs of each family. Based on the results of the study, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service proposed that
improving the family-centered focus of social work services at schools could improve the effectiveness of the services at Hong Kong’s kinder-
gartens in particular. Informed by studies and lessons learned from previous projects, the Boys’ Brigade Hong Kong adopted a family-centered
approach for the project reported in this paper.

1.4 | Family-centered service delivery in early childhood intervention and education

Early childhood care professionals have long considered family-centered service delivery the best practice, particularly in child welfare services,
early intervention, and special early education (Bruder, 2010; Epley, Summers, & Turnbull, 2010; Lietz, 2011). Throughout the United States
and in Alberta, Canada, a family-centered approach is required by law related to children with disabilities and child welfare practice standards
(Family Support for Children with Disabilities Act, 2017; Shaw, Supplee, Dishion, Gardner, & Arnds, 2006; U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, 2018). Services for children with special needs are advocated but
also family-centered early childhood education (Keyser, 2006) and the implementation of a family-centered approach in public schools (Connard
& Novick, 1996). Carrigan and Bishop (1997) proposed that schools should act as hubs of a network of family-centered, community-based inte-
grated service programs, in which community involvement can be cultivated by expanding activities in school facilities before and after regular
school hours.
LAU AND HO | 119

From Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological perspective, family-centered practice focuses on facilitating positive, mutually enhancing person–
environment interaction and exchange. Connard and Novick (1996) later proposed three key components of a family-centered approach to
education and social service delivery: (a) creating partnerships and helping relationships; (b) building the community environment; and (c) linking
families and community support. Incorporating various definitions of family-centered practice, Epley et al. (2010) more recently proposed five
important elements of such practice: (a) the family as the unit of attention; (b) a focus on and utilization of family strengths; (c) respect and
facilitation of families’ informed choices; (d) parent–professional partnership; and (e) flexible and individualized service provision, including the
provision and mobilization of resources. To those ends, social workers, given their expertise in working with families and family systems, are
considered aptly positioned to implement family-centered practice in children’s education, including early childhood education (Allen-Meares,
2004; Azzi-Lessing, 2010).
In Hong Kong’s social service sector, the use of a family-centered approach has continued to gain recognition (Lau, 2008; Ma, 2012, 2015;
Wong, Wan, & Ng, 2016). In practice, some social service agencies, particularly those for young children with special needs, have integrated a
family-centered approach into their services (Caritas Hong Kong Children, Youth and Community Services, 2011; Salvation Army, 2016). The
project reported in this paper represents an initial attempt to apply a family-centered approach in mainstream early childhood education and
care settings in Hong Kong.

1.5 | The pilot project

The pilot project was launched in two kindergartens during the 2013–2014 school year. One kindergarten (Kindergarten A) was located in an
old district of Hong Kong with an ethnically diverse population of generally lower socioeconomic status. The other (Kindergarten B) was
located in a newly developed area populated by young families of mixed socioeconomic status. Both kindergartens were Christian schools with
a student population of approximately 120. They were selected for the project given their long-term partnerships with the Boys’ Brigade Hong
Kong in uniform group training for young children and their expressed need for social work services.
The family-centered approach was formulated according to identified key elements that define family-centered practice (Connard & Novick,
1996; Epley et al., 2010). In 2.5-day services stationed at each kindergarten every week for 46 weeks, two social workers with extensive experi-
ence at schools provided guidance and counseling services to students and their families; offered consultation services to school personnel and
parents on ways to address students’ needs; coordinated and mobilized community resources for the benefit of students, families, and schools;
and promoted mutual support among parents as well as their involvement at schools and in their communities by facilitating parents groups. To
facilitate natural, non-stigmatizing contact with students and their caregivers, the social workers joined the teachers to greet students at the front
door of the kindergarten every day when they were stationed there; engaged in a character education program operated with the assistance of the
uniform group training unit of the Boys’ Brigade Hong Kong; and organized parent–child activities, including a visit to a theme park. One social
worker offered a stationing service on Saturday to facilitate the parents’ participation in education and parent groups.
To inform the development and improvement of the project, an evaluation study was completed in October 2014. Detailed feedback from
the principals and teachers, as well as the students’ parents regarding the social work services was collected during two individual interviews
and six focus group interviews, including two for teachers (n = 22) and four for parents (n = 20). Parents were recruited to participate with the
assistance of the social workers and teachers and were included in the focus groups regardless of whether they or their children had received
social work counseling, guidance, referrals, or parent group services. All teachers at the two kindergartens participated in focus group inter-
views as well, whereas the two school principals were interviewed individually. With the written consent of participants, all interviews were
audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and subjected to thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The implementation of the family-centered
approach as reported by participants in terms of their observations and experiences is discussed as follows.

1.6 | The family as the unit of attention: Facilitating an inclusive scope to respond to the needs of students
and their caregivers
Taking the family as the unit of attention, social workers at schools offered timely support to parents and families in need or in crisis, as well
as affording individual help to their children. Participating parents gave vivid examples of such timely service offerings, as the following partici-
pant who recently relocated from Mainland China demonstrates:

I have no friends in Hong Kong and know nothing about the city. Whenever I had a conflict with my husband, I would beat my daugh-
ter. It became a pattern after a while. I really didn’t know how to deal with my adjustment problems. The social worker offered me
counseling and encouraged me to join the parents group. I realized that other parents also encounter similar adjustment issues when
they first arrive in Hong Kong. I felt more settled after knowing that. . . The social worker took the initiative to contact me after notic-
ing that my daughter was always unhappy. She asked me if something was happening at home. I used to suppress my emotions and
120 | LAU AND HO

keep the problem a secret. When the social worker took the initiative to show her concern, I burst into tears and opened myself up to
her assistance. (Parent 7a, Kindergarten A)

My daughter passed away when my grandson was just a few months old. It made him uneasy to learn that his schoolmates had moth-
ers and he didn’t. . . I have had difficulties accepting the loss as well. I was preoccupied with sorrow and sadness. . . The social worker
worked with my grandson during play therapy and explained to him where his mother had gone. . . Now, when people ask about his
mother, he tells them, “She died and now she’s in heaven”. . . After talking with the social worker, I became more positive and less
depressed. I began attending many school activities in which I met with and learned from other parents. I have let go now. (Grand-
mother, Kindergarten B)

The practices of the family-centered social work approach gained notice even among parents who did not access any of the services:

I know a parent who’s not a Hong Kong resident but her son is because he was born in Hong Kong. The social worker helped the son
to apply for Comprehensive Social Security Allowance. She didn’t have a bank account because she’s not a Hong Kong resident. . . the
social worker offered help to her. (Parent 8a, Kindergarten A)

When our families have problems or when we don’t know how to deal with some situations, [we know that] there’s help available for
us. (Parent 10a, Kindergarten A)

Participating teachers also shared observations of the systemic interventions that the social workers facilitated in response to the symp-
toms of individual students:

A child threw a temper tantrum one day, and the social worker helped us by talking with her and found that her mother had scolded
her. She counseled the child and helped us to understand the student’s behavior. (Teacher 2, Kindergarten A)

She [the social worker] also works with the parents. Children are easily influenced by things that happen in their families. She helps
the parents. Many parents take the initiative to contact her and seek help from her. (Teacher 5, Kindergarten A)

The social worker’s service helps to relieve the children and facilitate parents’ trust in the kindergarten. It directly benefits the chil-
dren’s mental health. (Teacher 2, Kindergarten A)

1.7 | Linking families with community support

Some children, including those with special needs, and their families particularly benefited from social work services at school. Although services
were available in the community, the parents and children often found it difficult to access such services without adequate information or appro-
priate referrals. Accessing needed community resources was a tremendous relief to parents, as the following excerpts from interviews attest:

The social work services provide good support to children by identifying their special needs earlier and getting them in touch with the
necessary resources. It spares us from an undue sense of helplessness and anxiety, because it’s impossible for us to get in touch with
the resources on our own. (Parent 1a, Kindergarten A)

My son has speech difficulties. The social worker helped me to identify resources available for my son and made the necessary referral
for him. . . My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] when she was in primary school. If her sit-
uation had been assessed in kindergarten, then she would have received more timely treatment. The assessment in primary school was
too late, because she had already started to have examinations frequently. She’s always lagging behind others. . . Her brother is much
more fortunate, because there’s a social worker in the kindergarten this year. (Parent 2a, Kindergarten A)

My child had problems with hair pulling. With the help of the social worker, a referral to a child expert was made. . . The expert sug-
gested that we talk with our child and encourage her to tell us if she’s unhappy. (Parent 1, Kindergarten B)

1.8 | Flexible and individualized service provision

The comments by parents and teachers indicate that flexible, individualized services such as individual counseling, group support, tangible assis-
tance, and collaboration with teachers were provided during the project. Such services were formulated according to the needs of students
LAU AND HO | 121

and parents and facilitated by family engagement and by valuing parents’ knowledge about their children in the service delivery process. For
example, one parent recounted how a social worker had tailored a service in response to her son’s food allergy:

I told them [the school personnel] that my child was allergic to candy, including chocolate. I told the principal and teachers the limits
on eating candy for him. I told the school social worker that my son loves to eat snacks but that I don’t want him to eat too many
snacks. They honored my request. There is good coordination between the school and parents. (Parent 1, Kindergarten B)

Another example of flexible, individualized service provision was a home-visit program for ethnic minorities in Kindergarten A that was
launched in partnership with the teachers. Because of cultural and language barriers, families of ethnic minority students are often difficult to
contact and connect with and may have weak social ties with their children’s schools and their communities. Overcoming such barriers requires
culturally sensitive, proactive outreach efforts to strengthen the school–family connection and facilitate the involvement of families with the
school and community. One teacher responsible for such efforts reported the positive impact of the program:

I paired up with the social worker to pay home visits to ethnic minority children. . . We showed them care and love during those visits.
I found that they improved the parents’ sense of belonging to the kindergarten. The social worker was a very good partner. (Teacher 2,
Kindergarten A)

1.9 | Creating partnerships and supportive relationships

In addition to connecting families with forms of community support and resources, the social workers at schools played a pivotal role in estab-
lishing a well-coordinated support system for the children and their families. At both kindergartens, educational parents groups emphasizing
mutual help were created with contents and activities tailored to meet parents’ expressed needs. For example, parents requested training in
English phonics to better tutor their children at home. Social workers at schools served as the contact persons and facilitators of the groups;
they arranged instructors for training sessions and facilitated parents in sharing their life experiences and practical wisdom in the groups. Par-
ticipating parents consistently reported the personal improvement facilitated by the parents groups and some reported increased knowledge
about the kindergarten:

[In the parents group], I met many other parents and learned how to manage my spousal relationship, my parent–child relationship,
and even my relationships with my in-laws. (Parent 3a, Kindergarten A)

We [other parents in the parents group and I] know much more about the kindergarten from attending the parents group. (Parent 2a,
Kindergarten A)

We [other parents in the parents group and I] talked about our children’s daily lives, their difficulties in school, and what we struggle
with as parents. We learned together and from each other. (Parent 6a, Kindergarten A)

It’s good to have opportunities to share experiences with other parents. . . All parents have formed their own practice wisdom in caring
for their children. We can learn from each other and improve our own practice from our exchanges. (Parent 5, Kindergarten B)

The parents’ experiences indicated that the mutual support offered in the parents group benefited them by mitigating their social isolation
and improving their competence as parents. Thus, the parents groups enabled the sharing of parenting expertise and the partnership of social
workers and parents.
Concrete efforts to acknowledge and mobilize parents’ leadership skills in the process of community building were also made. In response
to the suggestion of a parent at Kindergarten B, a recycling program was launched under his leadership with the collaboration of the school
principal, the school social worker, and other parents. Used household items and electrical appliances in good condition were collected from
the community and redistributed to families in need. The program not only contributed to community capacity building via the collective
involvement of parents but also facilitated solidarity among parents and mutual support at the community level:

From the recycling program, I got to know many parents as we worked together as volunteers in the program and served our neigh-
bors. It fostered neighbor-to-neighbor relationships. (Parent 3, Kindergarten B)

Along with parent–parent partnerships, social workers’ partnerships with teachers involving their exchange of knowledge constituted
another community-building practice that facilitated a supportive school environment for the students and their families:
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The social worker taught us [other teachers and I] how to manage children with emotional volatility. I’ve adopted the methods; they
really work. We didn’t know those methods before the project. (Teacher 4, Kindergarten A)

When the social worker told us [other teachers, and I] what had happened to a child, we knew how to follow up appropriately. (Tea-
cher 7, Kindergarten A)

The school social worker serves as a professional counselor at school who can explore what is happening to children in addition to
their studies in great depth. She can tell us what we should know. (Teacher 8, Kindergarten A)

By enhancing teachers’ knowledge, understanding, and skills relating to children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties, the social workers
helped to ensure that the needs of the children were met. In addition, rather than using the teachers solely as a means to help the children
and their families, the social workers also provided personal support. Teacher 2 at Kindergarten A recalled, “I saw that some teachers spoke
with the social worker. It was [a] very good relief for work-related stress.” Realizing the need to support teachers prompted the organization of
workshops on stress management and self-development for them at the kindergartens.

1.10 | Values and special advantages of family-centered social work services in kindergarten
The kindergarten principals highly regarded the values of family-centered social work services at their schools. They described the reciprocal
influences and benefits of a family-centered approach for children, their parents, and the school:

It’s not easy to detect parents’ problems without individual contact with them. The social worker offers valuable help in that respect. . .
For instance, a parent was found to have suicidal tendencies. With the social worker’s intervention, the crisis was resolved, and it
helped the whole family. There are examples of when early intervention has also helped to prevent domestic violence, children from
running away from home, and the physical abuse of children. . . The school social worker helps to reduce many of the school’s prob-
lems, because problems in families eventually become problems in schools. Parents’ problems usually affect the children and their
behavior at school, which in turn affects the teachers. So, children’s problems mean school problems. (Principal, Kindergarten A)

With social work services provided at school, there can be more intensive follow-up with parents and families. The diverse needs of parents
can be met as well. It makes the most obvious difference to parents. . . but it also benefits the children because the social worker can pro-
vide more professional help to the parents, to whom the children’s problems are often related. (Principal, Kindergarten B)

From the teachers’ perspective, referring families to appropriate community resources was not only a tremendous relief to the parents but
also helped to bridge a major service-related gap in the school system:

For children with special needs, social workers connect them with specialized resources and services in the community, which we
[school staff] can’t offer due to our extremely heavy workloads. (Teacher 4, Kindergarten A)

Participating parents also underscored the special capacity of school-based services to naturally foster relationships and make social work-
ers accessible at schools:

I saw a lot of people talk with her [the school social worker] as they dropped off their children at kindergarten or picked them up after
school. She stood at the door and greeted each of us [the parents] with a smile. She said good morning to the children, and the chil-
dren reciprocated her friendliness quite naturally. She made me feel at home. (Parent 1, Kindergarten B)

If I need to seek help, she [the school social worker] is the first person who comes to mind, because I don’t know social workers at
other agencies. I feel most at ease with her, and it’s convenient to seek help from her at the kindergarten. (Parent 2, Kindergarten B)

I often see her [the school social worker] when I go to school to pick up my child. All of the children greet her, and they are so excited
to see her. (Parent 7a, Kindergarten A)

She [the school social worker] has made it a routine to talk with us when we drop off our children at the kindergarten. She takes the initia-
tive in telling us [the parents] about special observations of our children, and shows her concern to us. (Parent 1a, Kindergarten A)

When asked about the inadequacies and limitations of the social work services at the kindergartens, parents’ most common grievance was
the time constraint, for the social worker was only stationed at the school 2.5 days each week. Such comments again reflected how greatly
the services were needed and valued:
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I desperately want to have a social worker at the kindergarten. Two-thirds of the parents are new arrivals [i.e. migrants from mainland
China who have lived in Hong Kong for less than 7 years]. We [the school staff] face tremendous family-related problems. (Principal,
Kindergarten A)

The social worker comes part-time. . . Two and a half days a week isn’t enough. (Principal, Kindergarten B)

The scheduled time is inadequate. More days are necessary. (Teacher 5, Kindergarten A)

It’s a pity that the social worker can’t work 5 days a week at the kindergarten. (Teacher 4, Kindergarten B)

2 | DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1 | Contributions of family-centered social work services in two kindergartens

The pilot project provided evidence of the value and feasibility of the delivery of family-centered social work services in kindergartens in Hong
Kong. In the project, the two participating social workers actively provided individualized, onsite mental health services directly to young children
and their parents or caregivers that effectively mobilized community resources. They worked to construct a mutually supportive, caring community
for the students’ parents, facilitated parents’ involvement in their communities via the recycling program and parents groups, and made good use
of their participation and leadership in the process. Moreover, the home-visit program demonstrated that social workers helped the kindergartens
to adopt assessments and interventions tailored to meet the needs of children and families from diverse backgrounds. According to feedback from
parents, teachers, and the principals of the two kindergartens, the social work services and particularly their support of teachers tremendously ben-
efited the early identification of students and caregivers’ problems, the organization of early interventions in response, and the cultivation of a sup-
portive, responsive school environment. The family-centered approach also guided the social workers to play a significant role working across the
school system, the family system, and the community to help struggling families to meet a diverse array of needs.

2.2 | A family-centered approach facilitates holistic systemic changes

Educators typically view students’ academic, behavioral, and emotional difficulties as individual issues (Corbin, 2005). Moreover, according to
Azzi–Lessing, “Although parent engagement is increasingly recognized as an important element in early childhood programs, service providers
often lack the skills necessary to form effective partnerships with parents in planning and implementing services” (2010; p. 260). Keyser sug-
gested, “the relationships that occur among the important adults in a child’s life are as important as the relationships between a child and those
adults” (2006, p. 1). Thus, building a school environment that supports teachers’ competence in family engagement, facilitates parent–teacher
partnerships, and establishes a holistic support service system is an invaluable service provided by family-centered social workers at kinder-
gartens.
As demonstrated by the practices described, the two social workers played a unique role in facilitating mutual adaptation among children,
their families, teachers, and schools as a means to support the educational process. Echoing Corbin’s (2005) opinion that social workers at
schools, equipped with an ecological, family-centered mind-set, are best positioned to clarify the need to integrate all factors that enable stu-
dents to learn and to support their social and academic development. In the project, the social workers actively enhanced family relationships
and family functioning as a whole, as well as improving students’ individual functioning. The strength-mobilizing approach of family-centered
practice requires social workers to identify families’ resources, the individual capacities of family members, and their unique problems. By
assuming consultative roles, the two social workers helped to equip school staff with an ecological perspective that allowed them to consider
how interactions between students and other stakeholders in their ecological system (e.g. parents, teachers, and peers) can affect seemingly
individual issues among students. By receiving support and sharing expertise with social workers, teachers enhanced their knowledge, skills,
and mental health, all of which they mobilized to improve the quality of services provided to students and thereby significantly improved the
school environment (Azzi-Lessing, 2010; Corbin, 2005).
In sum, the holistic family-centered approach activated in the project demonstrated outstanding potential to effect systemic change com-
pared to its individual-oriented counterpart. The implementation and promotion of family-centered social work services at kindergartens in
Hong Kong is thus highly recommended.

2.3 | Implications for social work education

Although social work services at schools derive from family-focused services, most social workers at schools in Hong Kong lack the specialized
knowledge and competence to practice family-centered social work. Social workers’ education equips them with a person-in-environment
124 | LAU AND HO

perspective that is valuable for addressing the inter-relatedness of individuals, families, schools, and communities (Corbin, 2005). However, to
implement a genuine family-centered perspective supported by the competence to address the needs and strengths of entire families, training
in family system theories of child development, mental health, and clinical methods in interventions to address the problems of young children
while working with parents and other systems is critical to social work training (Mahoney & Wiggers, 2007).
Although sharing the common theoretical frameworks of social work and aligned with its values and principles, family-centered practice is
not part of required coursework during professional social work training in Hong Kong. Family counseling and family intervention are regarded
as specialized, advanced practices in Hong Kong accessible only to experienced social workers (Chui, 2014; Yiu, 2013). At present, promoting
and implementing family-centered practice in Hong Kong thus requires social workers to receive advanced training in family intervention. For-
tunately, some social work training institutes have offered specialized training programs on family-centered practice at the master’s level. In
the long run, we suggest making competence in working with families and basic knowledge of family-centered practice a required topic of
study for all student social workers and a core element of social work training in Hong Kong. Including work with families as a core social work
practice in professional social work education programs is an affirmative action. In addition to formal training, on-the-job training and continu-
ing professional education could help to address the training gap of social work practitioners in Hong Kong (Ma, 2003; Wong et al., 2016).
As social work services at schools in Hong Kong begin a new chapter in kindergartens, it is our hope that sharing the family-centered prac-
tice of the reported pilot project and our recommendations can aid the development of a genuine holistic indigenous practice model.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work described in this paper was fully supported by the Lee Hysan Foundation. We would like to thank the Boys’ Brigade Hong Kong for
permission to use the study data for publication.

ORCID

Yuk King Lau http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0312-7288

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How to cite this article: Lau YK, Ho WM. Family-centered kindergarten social work services in Hong Kong: A pilot project. Asian Soc
Work Pol Rev. 2018;12:116–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/aswp.12144