FEATURED

Finding the Way

Being Neighbourly x Catherine Gurtin, PathFinders

Author/ Being Neighbourly
28 February 2025

There is a widely held misconception that all children born in Hong Kong will receive permanent residency,” says Catherine Gurtin, CEO of Pathfinders, a charity dedicated to bridging the gap on the belief that no child should be born alone and deprived of an identity, healthcare, basic supplies and shelter.

The journey began in 2007 when co-founders Kylie Uebergang and Melissa Mowbray-d’ Arbela rescued four babies born to migrant women in Hong Kong. Identifying a gap in Hong Kong society where women and babies go undocumented and unprotected, they established PathFinders.

“Hong Kong currently employs 360,000 MDWs. Many are women of childbearing age and lack access to reproductive knowledge and services. Often social and cultural norms in their home countries don’t encourage comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education and/or gender inequality,” Gurtin explains.

To mitigate the problem, in 2019, the charity initiated the development of a scalable and sustainable outreach and education model, focused on Crisis Prevention to empower MDWs with knowledge on labour, maternity, and sexual/reproductive healthcare rights to prevent and manage unplanned pregnancies. In addition, it provides employers with support to ensure pregnant MDWs maintain job security and access to public services.

Guiding the Way

PathFinders is the only Hong Kong charity dedicated to supporting the unique vulnerabilities of children born to migrant mothers – predominantly current or former Migrant Domestic Workers (MDWs).

We are guided by the fundamental belief that all children deserve a fair start in life. Since 2008, PathFinders has helped over 11,500 migrant mothers and children facing crisis to find a path to a brighter future.

At PathFinders, each case is unique. Our case workers provide comfort, care and counselling to ensure migrant mothers have access to the critical information and support they need to address individual emotional, immigration, medical, employment and security concerns.

We provide access to essential supplies, healthcare and education. Wel also facilitate referrals to key service partners for more specialised support, including for emergency shelter, legal matters, domestic violence, drug abuse, family planning, non essential supplies and child development delays.

“In more recent years we have started to also focus on driving solutions for long-term change and systemic change programmes, supported by research and actionable policy solutions to improve an employer’s ability to provide MDWs with maternity protection and leave.”

According to Gurtin, the majority of the 360,000 MDWs employed in Hong Kong are of childbearing age. Many lack reproductive health knowledge and often need a healthy perception towards love and relationships.

“Discussing birth control or contraception options with MDWs, for example, can be challenging –
particularly given a general lack of public acceptance and objections on the grounds of religious reasons (Catholic and Muslim).”

Meanwhile, for MDWs from minority source countries – such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Bangladesh and India – their challenges are multifold. Due to their small populations, language gaps, lack of requirement for agency involvement and limited community-led information exchange, MDWs from these countries are particularly vulnerable to mistreatment and abusive
working practices.

For the past 50 years MDWs have migrated to Hong Kong to provide for their families, while also helping to improve our livelihoods. As a result, they have made an enormous social and economic contribution to the city.

Currently MDWs represent 10% of the labour force and are employed by some 13% of households. They enable many Hong Kongers – especially those with young children and elderly parents – to maintain dual income households. In 2018, MDWs were estimated to contribute 3.6% GDP. Recent research also suggests hiring a MDW facilitates the choice by many families to have a second child, which is important given our falling birth rate.

“MDWs are certainly very self-sacrificing in many ways,” says Gurtin.

Celebrating Mothers

Over the years, PathFinders has been at the forefront of efforts to enhance the community’s understanding and care for migrant mothers and their children.

MomDay – a weekly column on PathFinders’ Facebook and Instagram pages – celebrates the strength of working mothers from all walks of life in Hong Kong.

In this column, we also share stories of MDW mothers to honour their incredible contribution to Hong Kong families and sacrificial love for their children.

We also encourage employers to allow MDWs to take short breaks during the day to stay connected with their children.

With many MDW mothers who are far away from their children and families, these breaks can mean a lot. It enables them to not wait until they complete their work tasks to call home – as often it could be late in the night and their children might already be asleep.

As such, some MDW mothers can only speak with their children once a week on their only day-off – which does not help to bridge the physical and emotional distance.

Some MDWs have shared that their young children could not recognise them during video calls, and their older ones struggle to bond with them across the miles.

Many of the MDWs in Hong Kong are mothers from the Philippines and Indonesia who made the very
difficult decision to leave children behind in order to work overseas and create brighter futures for them. Sadly, despite their sacrifices, the significant economic and social contribution of MDWs has long been undervalued in our society, Gurtin says.

Approximately 50% of PathFinders cases are recognizance paper holders (RPH). This means they
have applied for asylum (by filing a non-refoulement claim) to remain in Hong Kong.

“Although an option, returning home can be a formidable and difficult process for migrant mothers returning with a child out of marriage and potentially of mixed-race. They are often rejected by their families, ostracised by their communities and face a marginalised and impoverished future.”

Such factors contribute enormously to a decision to overstay once their visa has expired or to file a non-refoulement claim, with the remote hope their application might be approved, says Gurtin.

“A recognizance paper is not a visa, and does not legalise the stay of the holder in Hong Kong nor confer any rights. As a result, RPHs are considered Non-eligible Persons and can only receive medical care at the discretion of the Health Authority,” Gurtin clarifies.

Children born to migrant mothers, Gurtin continues, are among the most vulnerable in Hong Kong, often living in unstable and unsafe environments that include domestic violence, drug abuse and cramped living spaces.

“In late 2022, a policy change was implemented to reject appeals of non-refoulement claims and expedite removal of unsubstantiated claims. This means many of our clients – pregnant or with newborn babies – may face immediate repatriation orders, before they have made the appropriate arrangements for stable housing and to appraise their families back home of their circumstances.”

“In 2024 we assisted 43 mothers and 23 babies to return to their home country, ensuring all children were documented. To support migrant mothers to return home with confidence, we provide classes on reintegration planning, covering topics such as communication with family,
overstaying risks and combating stigma. In addition to delivering classes with community partners, we maintained partnerships with grassroots organisations in home countries to facilitate reintegration, with a focus on vocational training and employment pathways.”

Currently, says Gurtin, there is no consistent orientation training for MDWs to ensure understanding of rights, regulations, and how to seek support while working and living in Hong Kong. Some, but not all, employment agencies provide orientation. The Philippine and Indonesian Consulates provide training for new MDWs, but often with gaps in information.

Improved understanding for employers is considered essential to maintaining MDW job and housing security, health insurance and avoiding legal cases against employers.

“Improved education for employers would be impactful, as it would provide employers with advice on how to signpost to proper authorities and relevant NGO support.”

For MDWs, the situation is more complex. With limited access to Labour Department’s support and advice in their own language and Sunday closures, the only day off for most MDWs, they are unable to raise complaints about excessive working hours, insufficient food, suboptimal sleeping arrangements and other matters.

As a result, they may resort to resigning or risk termination of their contract before these matters can be addressed.

“We believe an accessible and clear complaints procedure would create a stronger labour market and ensure Hong Kong remains a competitive and attractive to foreign Domestic workers,” she says.

Spreading the Word

Through our PathFinders Ambassadors we are empowering MDWs as community leaders, equipping them with knowledge, information and skills training to expand our outreach, amplify our messages and signpost our Crisis Intervention services.

Now in its 5th year, this incredible programme has now professionally trained and empowered 392 MDWs as community leaders. They are provided with bespoke training to enable them to professionally deliver PathFinders’ messages with confidence, accuracy, confidentially, and in a way that is culturally sensitive. Ambassadors are mobilised with self-created materials to hold outreach events and workshops within the community and required to regularly update their PathFinders Manager on sessions conducted, numbers of participants reached and evaluation highlights.

Despite all the challenges they may face on a daily basis working and living as an MDW in Hong Kong, our incredible Ambassadors demonstrate exceptional resilience and determination to learn and achieve. We are truly amazed by the hard work and selfless dedication of all they do in service to others.

In addition to training activities, our curriculum includes non-training activities. These activities encompass annual events, such as Ambassador Reflection Days and the Ambassador Appreciation Day. PathFinders also conducts Special Outreach initiatives and webinars led by our Ambassadors.