Charity Spotlight: Pathfinders Hong Kong

Having served more than 4,200 babies, children and women, PathFinders is a respected charity committed to supporting the welfare of children by providing child protection, mothers’ protection, counselling, shelter, food, access to health, access to education and access to legal support. In Hong Kong we benefit from women who come as Foreign Domestic Helpers to help raise our children, look after our elderly, and enable us to have active and social lives. Even so, once migrant women become pregnant their work contracts are often unlawfully terminated by their employers.Afraid and unsure of their options, these mothers-to-be end up in situations that endanger their well-being and the well-being of their child. They may contemplate self-induced abortion and even suicide. They become easy prey to predators, easily exploited and in most cases end up overstaying their visas and going into hiding. Without income or social support, these women become invisible and give birth to unregistered children.

They fall through the cracks of Hong Kong’s social and legal safety nets, grow up in environments that are often detrimental to their future and are without access to critical services such as medical care and education.There are over 6,000 of such vulnerable migrant pregnant women, mothers and children in Hong Kong. We believe this number will keep growing as an increasing number of migrant workers enter the country every year (+66% since 1999).