Journey of Circle in promoting co-parenting in Hong Kong

What’s next after the Fellowship: journey of circle in promoting co-parenting in Hong Kong

“The core of co-parenting, a value that I have always been promoting, is not about two adults leaving the nest. It is about how to make sure the nestlings land safely. As we cannot control disasters, parents have the responsibility to minimize risks and harm that their children may have to bear.”

Circle

Fellowship Program 2019 >

Introduction

Seven years ago, Circle felt helpless after her divorce as she didn’t know how to talk about it to her children. She began to learn about co-parenting, and sought professional help from the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society. According to the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department, co-parenting refers to how parents can “maintain a good relationship with their children by facilitating communication after the divorce, so as to ensure their children a healthy childhood”. She joined Resolve’s Social Justice Fellowship Program to learn more skills to transform herself into a campaigner of co-parenting.

joining fellowship

Circle recalls how thankful she was for the support of her fellowship mentor in the fellowship, Vivian McGarth, who had similar experiences of having lived in a restructured family. Circle admired Vivian’s courage to publicly address the subject of divorce. “In Hong Kong, it is rare to find someone as brave as her. Working at Rainlily, an anti-sexual violence organisation, I seldom encountered a beneficiary who dared to tell her story in front of others let alone a community organiser.” she says. With Vivian’s encouragement, she reached out to The Hong Kong Catholic Marriage Advisory Council and later became a guest speaker in their workshop.

Apart from her mentor’s assistance, Circle also appreciates the social network she has built in the Resolve Community. “I can meet other fellows who are also concerned with gender-based social issues with different cultural backgrounds, including domestic helpers and LBGTQ+ activists,” she says. “This enormous yet diverse interpersonal relations were an eye-opening experience for me,” she remarks.

She also gained confidence. “I am determined to promote my idea and the Fellowship motivated me to send several applications to different organisations,” she says. “I had no idea what I was doing but I did it anyway. There was this opportunity I did not expect to get,” she laughingly adds, referring to the first Gender Innovation Award organised by the Taiwan government and a local non-governmental organisation called Impact Hub in August, 2019. She was shortlisted and made it to the quarterfinal, competing with teams from different countries such as Mongolia, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, and more.

In January 2020, Circle worked on a drama production “Two Nests, Love from Both” that proved to be a huge success. The show is based on the book of the same name published in 2018 and consists of many real stories on family reorganization. Because of the positive responses her team received from the reading session, they decided to produce a drama on these narratives this year. Eventually, all 130 seats in the theatre were taken and the audience highly praised the show, saying that the performance opened their minds and gave them space to express their emotions. Hence, Circle discovered how to broaden the scope of her work through art as a medium to push public conversation.

In the future, Circle will continue to promote co-parenting to other areas and seeks to get more funding for her projects. In the meantime, she will continue local art and education projects, hoping to showcase her idea to different colleges and universities as well.