Youders’ Story – Ms. Subrina Chow 周舜宜女士
Recipient of the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholar for Overseas Studies in 1989/90
尤德爵士紀念基金海外獎學金1989/90年度得獎者
In late 2021, childcare workers of the Children’s Residential Home managed by the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (“HKSPC”) were accused of child abuse. Ms. Subrina Chow, recipient of Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarships for Overseas Studies in 1989/90, joined the Society to lead a range of reforms and rebuild public trust. Called by her faith and keen on working for children since her days as a developmental psychology student in college, Ms. Chow found herself in the hot seat as the Director of an NGO in crisis.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Ms. Chow completed her secondary education at Belilios Public School and Diocesan Girls’ School. At the time of planning for college education, she was inspired by her schoolmates who aspired to pursue tertiary studies in the United States, became interested in the American Liberal Arts Education system and applied to Cornell University. She was eventually granted admission to Cornell University with financial aid.
After completing her bachelor’s degree, Ms. Chow returned to Hong Kong planning to work in social services or early childhood education. However, without a social work degree and a salary offer acceptable to her parents, she started her career in the sales office of a hotel. After 6 months, she joined World Vision Hong Kong to help found a Christian rehabilitation residential centre targeting young female drug abusers, providing living and learning support. While she found the service experience eye-opening, Ms. Chow was advocated by her father, who was a civil servant, to apply for the Administrative Officer position of the Hong Kong Government.
Ms. Chow landed a job offer from the Government after passing rounds of interviews. During her 27 years as an Administrative Officer, she served in 10 different posts, covering education, information technology and the overseas Economic and Trade Offices, where her main duty was to promote investment opportunities in Hong Kong to overseas governments, businesses and think tanks. In her last post in the Government, she served as the Assistant Director of Administration in the Office of the Chief Secretary for Administration, acting as the liaison with the Independent Commission Against Corruption and Office of the Ombudsman, and overseeing the Justices of the Peace programme.
In 2021, Ms. Chow decided to leave the Government to pursue her old dream of serving children in the last years of her working life. When the crisis of the Children’s Residential Home came to light, leading to the resignations of its Superintendent and the Director of HKSPC, Ms. Chow was referred by a friend and recruited by the Society as its Senior Deputy Director in March 2022 and eventually appointed as Director in May 2022. In response to the incident, the Society established an Independent Review Committee which published an interim report in January 2022. Ms. Chow was then responsible for carrying out the recommendations in the report, reforming the Society’s governance structure and organisational culture. When asked about the cause of the incident, Ms. Chow explained that the Home looks after children aged 0-3 with severe family problems. Children of drug abusing parents need to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment at birth and nearly 40% of the children in the Home have special educational needs, at a much higher ratio than the average in the community. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, volunteers could not visit the Home to support the operation. While the Independent Review Committee pointed to a number of management issues, greater work stress posed by the pandemic against less support from volunteers likely aggravated the problem in the Home.
To rectify the situation, the Home increased the ratio of childcare workers to children significantly, from 1:7 to 1:5, allowing staff to give more attention and take better care of children with special educational needs. Moreover, in order for the carers and the children to build a closer relationship and cultivate understanding, stable teams of carers are assigned to specific groups of children, which also helps to strengthen team cooperation. The above are just two examples of a series of reform measures implemented to give better support to both staff and children. In addition, Ms. Chow is also planning for the strategic development of the wider organisation. For instance, she and her colleagues are setting up a training institute to provide systematic training for both current and future employees. If possible, they wish to extend their target trainees to other members in the childcare sector, parents and members of public. They also plan to publish articles to share experiences of care and education for young children and promote research related to child development.
Ms. Chow applied for the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship for Overseas Studies and was originally waitlisted for the scholarship. After departing from Hong Kong to Cornell University, her father received a call from the Fund Secretariat offering Ms. Chow the scholarship. At that time, Miss Chow intended to decline the offer since she already received financial aid from the university and felt the Fund should offer the scholarship to other students. But the Secretariat decided to award her the scholarship to pay the balance after deducting the financial aid from Cornell University, allowing her to finish her study with minimal contributions from her family.
There is the Confucian idea that “one knows his mission at fifty.” Many people at this age reflect on and try to determine the purpose of their lives. Ms. Chow chose to switch her job, join an organisation in crisis and take up the challenge to lead others on a journey of reform. It was a call of her faith as well as a decision to pursue her passion.
2021年底，香港保護兒童會轄下「童樂居」的員工被揭發涉嫌虐兒，引起社會嘩然。尤德爵士紀念基金海外獎學金1989/90年度得獎者周舜宜女士走馬上任，擔起重整機構管治和重建公眾信心的大旗。周女士自大學修讀發展心理學課程以來，一直熱衷於幼兒相關工作，受到信仰的感召，她決定加入陷於危機中的保護兒童會成為其總幹事。
周女士於香港出生長大，在庇理羅士女子中學及拔萃女書院完成中學課程。她當時受到有志到海外升學的同學啟發，對美國的博雅教育感到興趣，便報考康乃爾大學。她獲錄取入讀康乃爾大學並獲得該校頒發獎助學金。
完成學位課程後，周女士回流香港。起初，她打算從事社會服務或幼兒教育相關工作，但礙於欠缺社工學位及薪酬原因，她先在一家酒店的營銷辦公室工作了半年，繼而加入香港世界宣明會，參與開辦一所專為為年青女性而設的戒毒宿舍，為她們提供住宿和學習服務。雖然戒毒服務的經驗開廣了她的視野，周女士其後受其時任公務員的父親勸導，報考了香港政府的政務主任職系。
經過幾輪面試，周女士獲得政府的聘書。27年間，周女士出任不少於10個不同崗位，當中包括教育及資訊科技的政策工作，乃至海外的經濟貿易辦事處。她在經貿辦的主要職責是推廣香港的投資機遇，吸引海外投資以促進香港的經貿利益，經常走訪不同地區的政府部門、商界以至智庫。回港後，她在政務司司長辦公室擔任助理行政署長，負責政府與廉政公署及申訴專員公署的日常溝通協作，以及處理太平紳士計劃的有關事宜。
2021年，周女士想在退休前投身一直心儀的幼兒工作，因此選擇離開政府。碰巧，童樂居事件被傳媒揭發，保護兒童會總幹事及童樂居院長引咎辭職。經朋友的介紹下，她在2022年3月獲聘為高級副總幹事，並於2022年5月獲委任為總幹事。機構在童樂居事件後成立了一個獨立調查委員會，於2022年1月發表了中期報告。周女士負責執行中期報告中的建議，從管治架構及組織文化等方面著手，推動機構改革。被問到童樂居事件的成因，她解釋童樂居主要照顧有嚴重家庭問題的0-3歲嬰幼兒，例如有一些幼兒因父母吸毒，出生時就需要接受戒毒治療。童樂居有接近四成兒童有特殊教育需要，遠遠高於社區的一般人口比例。同一時間，由於疫情原因，義工未能進入院舍提供支援。獨立調查委員在其報告中提出了一些管理上的缺失，然而員工在疫情中面對更大的工作壓力，卻得到較平常少的義工支援，亦可能促成了院舍的問題惡化。
為改進情況，院方大幅改善人手比例，讓幼兒工作員與兒童的比例由過去的 1:7 提高至1:5，使員工能更好地照顧有特殊教育需要的兒童。另外，兒童改由固定的幼兒工作員照顧，讓雙方能建立關係和增進彼此的認識，也同時強化團隊合作。以上只列舉了一兩個措施，目的是為照顧者和兒童提供更好的支援。而她與同事亦開始籌劃一些策略性發展，例如計劃成立一個培訓部門，為現職和未來的員工提供系統性的培訓，甚或將培訓對象延伸至業界、家長和社會大眾。他們亦計劃出版刊物，讓員工分享教顧幼兒的心得，以及一些與兒童發展相關的研究。
周女士申請尤德爵士紀念基金的海外獎學金，起初只在獎學金的後補名單內。但在她出發到康乃爾大學後，她父親收到基金秘書處的通知，要向她頒發獎學金。當時，她認為自己既已經獲得大學的獎助學金，基金應將獎學金發予其他人。最後，秘書處決定給予她在扣減大學獎助學金後的學費餘額，使她無須增加家庭負擔而順利完成海外課程。
五十而知天命，當很多人在這個年紀開始反思和確立人生定位，周女士選擇轉換工作，加入一家正經歷危機的機構，承擔帶領眾人重新岀發的挑戰。這是她信仰的感召，也是她尋回初心的決定。