Child abuse in Hong Kong: officials must reach out to ethnic minority families to prepare for new mandatory reporting policy, educators say

Educators in Hong Kong are urging the government to communicate with ethnic minority families about a new law that's being planned. This law, known as the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill, will make it a must for certain professionals, like doctors and teachers, to report any signs of child abuse. If they don't, they could face jail time or a big fine.

Nancy Lam, a leader at the Federation of Education Workers, is calling for special meetings and learning sessions that consider the unique needs of ethnic minority families. She believes that understanding how to prevent child abuse should be a long-term goal for the community. Statistics show that there are many people from different cultural backgrounds in Hong Kong, including over 60,000 children.

Shalini Mahtani, who runs a charity called the Zubin Foundation, points out that the information about the new law is not easy for non-Chinese speaking families to get. She suggests that training in various languages and using simple pictures could help. Shalini supports the new law and hopes that trained teachers and social workers will be confident in reporting abuse and discussing cultural matters. The law is still being talked about, and it will include guidelines for professionals on how to identify and deal with child abuse.