Growing Together

Home Learning as a Family-Based Program for Infants and Toddlers in Underprivileged Families

Children aged 0 to 3 are at the most critical period of all stages of development, during which their growing environment and early experiences can have chained and long-lasting effects. Therefore, it is indispensable to provide young children with an advantageous environment for growth and development. However, the public sector services for children aged 0 to 3 do not adequately meet the demands, including child care and assessment services. Children from underprivileged families have limited support and resources to access these services, particularly those living in less favourable living environment. It is crucial to provide these disadvantaged children with the necessary support to facilitate their overall development.

With sponsorship from the Simon K. Y. Lee Children’s Fund, this project, which adopts the Routines-Based Model (RBM), aims to support infants and toddlers from low-income families. particularly those living in less favourable living environment. In Phase 1 (2022-2023), through the multidisciplinary approach, social workers and child care workers provided on-site support to the families in their home environment, coaching the parents to identify and understand the developmental needs of their children. This, in turn, enhanced their parenting capabilities, fostering a positive environment for the growth and development of children. In Phase 2, both home visits and non-home-visits (e.g., online meeting, group session) were adopted to support families in a sustainable and more cost-effective way. RBM emphasizes children’s learning and application in their daily lives and believes that parents are capable of supporting their children’s development. With the accompaniment and support of parents, children are able to effectively develop good living habits and essential skills, such as self-care skills and social skills.

Through an evidence-based study and practical experiences serving families living in less favourable environment, the Project Team aims to develop a contextualized, family-based programme that embeds the principles of the Routines-Based Model for underprivileged families. This programme will provide frontline workers with practical guidelines for supporting infants and toddlers from these families. The results of the study will shed light on the needs and practicable service model for underprivileged families, while also offering some insights into the fields of professional training in social work and early childhood education. In addition, based on the experiences in Phases 1 and 2, the Project expects to launch an online learning platform in the second quarter of 2026 to train more professionals and paraprofessionals to use RBM to serve more low-income families in the long run.

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Funding amount: $16M