In Hong Kong, 89 children are waiting for adoption into what most of us take for granted – a loving family.
Sky Siu, the new chief executive of Mother’s Choice, a Hong Kong charity that helps pregnant teenagers and children without families, is determined to reduce that number.
A veteran of the non-governmental sector, she is fuelled by a vision of seeing every child in a loving family.
Children awaiting adoption can be placed in foster care, or face living in a children’s home.
“Home-based foster families are great but only a temporary solution,” says Siu. A childhood spent in institutional care is the worst-case scenario.
“When children age out of the care system at 18 without a family, it triggers what we call a vicious cycle,” she says. “This is why we work hard to see every child reunite with their birth family or to find a new family when this is not possible.