Follow-up on Views Gathered at the Stakeholder Engagement Session on "Launching Ceremony of the Child Protection Campaign"

To assist mandated reporters in mastering child protection principles and identifying cases to be reported under their statutory obligations

To tie in with the commencement of the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance (the Ordinance), the Government issued the Guide for Mandated Reporters (the Guide) in July 2025, with the view to providing mandated reporters with decision trees, supplementary analytical frameworks and sample case scenarios for reference.
Large-scale briefings on the content and use of the Guide were jointly organised by relevant government B/Ds for specified professionals to enhance their knowledge and skills in the early identification and handling of suspected child abuse cases. The briefings and training sessions introduced the decision trees, supplementary analytical frameworks and sample case scenarios. Among these, 20 briefings and training sessions, including three large-scale briefings jointly conducted by members of the three Professional Consultative Panels and representatives from the Hong Kong Police Force, were organised for the specified professionals, with around 18 000 enrolments recorded by end December 2025.
Tailor-made briefings for teachers and school personnel have been conducted by the Education Bureau (EDB) to enhance their knowledge and skills on early identification and handling of suspected child abuse cases.
Specified professionals are encouraged to participate in the Child Protection Online Training, which provides essential knowledge on child protection, including the legal aspects and reporting procedures relevant to the Ordinance. Participants would acquire knowledge on the key content of the Ordinance, analyse case scenarios, receive an introduction of the Guide, and learn about the reporting procedures as well as post-reporting follow-up.
As at end December 2025, over 330 000 participants have attended the trainings and/or received child protection information disseminated by relevant Government B/Ds. The Government will continue to organise workshops, seminars and learning circles for specified professionals to enhance their application of knowledge and skills through case analysis in various scenario settings, and to strengthen the trainings on child protection for specified professionals of schools.

To prevent diverged views when a case is reported

The Government has organised training activities and requested the relevant organisations and bodies to update their respective professional codes of practice / guidelines, so as to facilitate mandated reporters to discharge their legal obligations.
To create a reporting-friendly environment for specified professionals, the Government has organised 11 talks attended by a total of more than 3 200 institution administrators from the social welfare sector, education sector and healthcare sector, reminding them of the required actions under the new legislation, which include putting in place measures to facilitate their staff’s compliance with their legal obligations, reviewing the institution’s guidelines on reporting child abuse cases and supporting staff to complete training, etc.

To alleviate the impact on the parent-child relationship and the trust between parents and the 25 specified professions when a case is reported

The Government has been disseminating the message of “Mandatory reporting of child abuse protects children” to the general public. It aims to enhance the public’s understanding of the objective of mandatory reporting of suspected serious child abuse cases, and also place emphasis on parents and carers for protecting children from abuse at the community, school and family levels. The thematic television and radio announcement has been launched since June 2025, coupled with a series of publicity activities through publishing advertisements and displaying promotional banners through various media channels, including television, radio, social media, mobile applications and the internet, as well as other public places frequently visited by the public.
EDB attaches great importance to home-school cooperation and has consistently encouraged schools and parents to maintain close communication, working jointly to safeguard students’ well-being. To help parents understand how the mandatory reporting mechanism protects children from the risk, and to foster good collaboration with schools, EDB promotes child protection messages to parents through schools and on the one-stop parent education information website “Smart Parent Net”.
EDB has been promoting the Positive Parent Campaign in the community, fostering positive thinking, effective strategies and supportive attitudes in nurturing children among parents.