A Hong Kong children’s education non-profit has called on the government to broaden support services for preschool-aged ethnic minority children with special educational needs (SEN) following the positive outcomes of a recent pilot programme. The Heep Hong Society reported that 95 percent of participants in the project showed developmental improvements.

The organisation highlighted that ethnic minority families face numerous obstacles in obtaining help for children with special needs, such as language barriers, financial difficulties, and cultural stigma. Early identification of SEN is critical, according to the Education Bureau, to ensure timely intervention. Government-funded Early Education and Training Centres and Special Child Care Centres provide rehabilitation services for children diagnosed with special needs, but official assessments can take up to a year, and private evaluations remain costly for many families.

Data from the Social Welfare Department shows a rise in the number of non-Chinese-speaking children accessing preschool rehabilitation services, increasing from 741 in the 2023-24 school year to 968 in 2025-26. Despite this growth, Deputy CEO Dr. Kwok Chun-chuen noted that ethnic minority families often struggle to navigate the support system, with many feeling unsure how to assist their children. “For the [ethnic minority] families, the situation is even worse because of the language barriers and lack of information,” he said.

The Heep Hong Society’s Project Embrace, which ran from March 2023 to February 2025, offered assessments, diagnoses, and support to 171 ethnic minority families with children under six exhibiting special educational needs. Seventy children received developmental assessments under the programme, which charged families HK$500—substantially less than typical private assessment fees. Assessments were completed on average within two months, with interpretation services provided mainly in Nepali, Urdu, and Hindi, catering to dominant South Asian community languages.

An impact evaluation conducted by Oxfam Hong Kong found that 95.7 percent of children participating in the programme showed progress in areas such as activity participation and following instructions. Improvements were also documented across six developmental domains, including fine motor skills, cognitive function, and social-emotional growth. Additionally, 87.7 percent of parent participants reported a better understanding of how to support their children, and 84.4 percent expressed increased awareness of available resources.

Among those helped was Cherry, a Filipino Hongkonger whose two sons have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. She described challenges in securing timely services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when her elder son was diagnosed. Concerned about her younger son Ethan, who was awaiting a government assessment, she found private evaluations unaffordable. After joining Project Embrace through a local NGO referral, she observed notable improvements in Ethan’s communication skills and gained greater confidence in interacting with him.

Kwok underscored the growing number of ethnic minority children requiring support, urging increased allocation of resources to dedicated ethnic minority service units within the Social Welfare Department’s Parents/Relatives Resource Centres. Currently, only five of the 23 centres have units specifically serving ethnic minority communities.

The Social Welfare Department stated that since the 2019-20 school year, it has provided subsidies to Special Child Care Centres and Early Education and Training Centres admitting ethnic minority children with special needs. These subsidies aim to improve staff training, enhance communication with parents, and bolster family support. The department also noted that nine Parents/Relatives Resource Centres in districts with larger ethnic minority populations have received additional resources to better serve these communities.