Parents Engaging in Justice Advocacy: "Sexual Conviction Record Check" Access in Hong Kong

Background and Purpose:

Transformative changes in child protection policies require aligning community engagement and policy implementation with social work values. The 2021 Hong Kong Sexual Conviction Record Check (SCRC) policy respects ex-offenders’ privacy rights by limiting public access, allowing only employers in child-related sectors to screen job applicants, however, without considering parental access. Since knowing parents’ role in preventing child sexual abuse (CSA) is crucial, policymakers have yet to decide if parents can check these records before hiring home-based tutors or live-in helpers for their children. This study examines parental beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge about the SCRC. It explores how parents’ motivation to learn more about SCRC affects the relationship between their beliefs and advocacy actions. By integrating research into policy discussions, this study aims to suggest service strategies that empower parents as stakeholders in CSA prevention to voice concerns as employers and child protectors.

Methods:

A social service agency in Hong Kong used digital randomization to recruit 507 parents of elementary school children for a phone survey in 2020. The survey contained data on parental beliefs in CSA prevention, attitudes toward home-based sex education, SCRC knowledge, and parental advocacy intention. The Human Subjects Protection Board of University X approved the team to complete this study. A 15-item scale (0-15) measured “parental advocacy” in addressing policy accessibility, confidentiality, fairness, friendly application steps, and record transparency. “Beliefs in prevention” measured 16 items on a 5-point Likert scale (1-5). “Motivation to learn” was a four-point scale (0-3) about parental keenness to learn more about the SCRC. We used four mediation analyses on the cultural belief in CSA prevention and the role of parental motivation in shaping parental advocacy efforts.

Results:

Findings demonstrated that parental beliefs in CSA prevention, attitudes toward home-based sex education, and SCRC knowledge significantly predict advocacy for expanding registry accessibility to include parents. Since both the direct path from “beliefs in prevention” to “parental advocacy” and the indirect effect of beliefs in prevention through motivation to learn were statistically significant, parental advocacy was only partly mediated by “motivation to learn.” A figure will show these relational statistics. Overall, parental motivation to engage with the SCRC policy advocacy mediates the relationship between advocacy efforts and (1) beliefs in CSA prevention, (2) attitudes toward home-based sex education, and (3) support for SCRC policy.

Conclusions and Implications:

This study underscores the importance of involving parents as powerful drivers of policy advocacy for child protection. It questions how to prevent CSA if ex-offenders cannot be identified to join prevention services. As part of transformative sciences, social work addresses justice-focused prevention strategies to urge the balance between parental engagement in CSA prevention initiatives and services for ex-offenders. This community-professional-government collaboration will strengthen policy alignment with family and child welfare needs, ensuring that CSA prevention strategies are socially responsive to the “parental rights” to SCRC access. By bridging research with practice, this study enhances further discussion on aligning policy implementation with parental input and evaluating ex-offender rehab services for SCRC name removal.