Cross-border Hong Kong children without fathers are ‘under mental stress’ as mainland Chinese mothers struggle amid visa issues

As Hongkongers celebrate Mother’s Day, a group of children in the city can only send long-distance well wishes or spend limited time with the most important women in their lives. For them, mum is so close, yet so far – just across the border and with no permit to stay long term in the city.

A study on 53 such single-parent families by the Society for Community Organisation, an NGO, released on Sunday revealed that a high proportion of these children and their mothers suffered from mental and physical health issues.

Mostly born in Hong Kong to mainland Chinese mothers and local fathers who have died or abandoned the family, the children have no household registration number across the border and therefore cannot study in public schools there or enjoy benefits available to mainland Chinese.

Their mothers cannot apply to stay in Hong Kong permanently to raise them, as without the fathers’ signatures, these women cannot qualify for one-way permits. They have to apply for a visa to Hong Kong once every few months, but are ineligible to find jobs while in the city as they do not hold a Hong Kong identity card.

According to the SoCO report, about half of the children from the 53 families surveyed suffered from health or learning issues, including psychosis and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), while close to 70 per cent of mothers have long-term illnesses such as back pain and depression.

In general, ADHD affects about one in 20, or 5 per cent, of Hong Kong children, according to the Department of Health.

SoCO organiser Sze Lai-shan said cross-border children and their mothers could suffer from great stress because of the challenges they faced, especially when the women lack an income.

Part of the pressure comes from the disruption to the lives of the children when the mothers have to return to mainland China to renew their visas.