Expatriate children living abroad – or ‘third culture kids’ as they are sometimes known – are often worldly, well-travelled and confident when compared to their peers back home. They have the advantage of being able to mix with many nationalities, are taught by teachers recruited from around the world and experience a very different culture.

This also brings challenges: children who grow up in Hong Kong are at home neither in their parents’ culture nor their foster culture, and may find it difficult to make the transition and feel comfortable in their new multinational peer group. Frequent partings with friends can reinforce this insecurity. International schools have started to take this issue more seriously and have implemented schemes to provide counselling and buddies for new students: English Schools Foundation (ESF) schools have an hour a week for personal and social education built into the curriculum. (More details about ESF schools are below.)

Lesley Lewis is a psychologist involved with these programmes and also offers counselling services (lewis@culture3counsel.com; tel. 9055 2211). The Kely Suppport Group (www.kely.org; tel. 9032 9096) provides free counselling and workshops for schoolchildren facing peer pressure, emotional problems, eating disorders and drug- and alcohol-related problems.

Hong Kong is very safe when compared with big Western cities, a particular advantage for teens wanting to stay out late with friends. Being able to jump in a taxi and call home on a mobile phone, both of which are very affordable in Hong Kong, can allay parents’ fears.

A major difference here is that ‘free’ play – just being able to just go outside and play in the garden or have a casual game of football in a park – is virtually impossible in Hong Kong due to pressure on space. You need to join a team, club or class. Concerned parents may find themselves overcompensating for a lack of play space by organizing activity after activity to keep youngsters amused.

Pregnancy And Childbirth

Public Versus Private

Quite a few women I know have given birth successfully in Hong Kong and received their full pregnancy care, including IVF treatment, through both private and public hospitals here. Where you give birth will be determined to a large extent by where you live, how much money you are prepared to spend and how much privacy you require for your birth. The standard of healthcare in private and good public hospitals is pretty similar.

In public hospitals, episiotomy is standard, so you should advise the midwife or doctor during your antenatal visits if you would prefer not to have one. If your antenatal care is with a private doctor, prepare a birth plan and hand it to the midwife when you’re admitted to the hospital. Newborns in Hong Kong are routinely given BCG, polio and hepatitis B vaccinations.

Partners are generally allowed into the labour ward and newborns are allowed to stay in the room with their mothers. In private hospitals, you can expect more perks, such as having a ‘lodger’ stay for free, a complimentary baby care product set and web-baby photo service.

A full list of public hospitals, grouped by location, is available on the Hospital Authority’s website ( www.ha.org.hk ). A list of registered private hospitals is available at www.dh.gov.hk/english/main/main_orhi/list_ph.htm .

Fees

Private hospitals such as the Matilda ( www.matilda.org ), Canossa Hospital ( www.canossahospital.org ) and Hong Kong Adventist Hospital ( www.hkah.org.hk ) have a range of maternity packages that cost between $20,000 and $100,000+. By contrast, public hospitals such as the university teaching hospital Queen Mary ( www3.ha.org.hk/qmh/index.htm ) charge $68 per visit for Hong Kong residents, which includes all procedures. 

Queen Mary and some other public hospitals also offer a private service (single and double bedrooms, rather than a shared ward), which costs $2,000–3,500 per day. A normal delivery costs around $4,880 and a Caesarean Section is between $20,000 and $41,000 plus anaesthesia charges.

If you decide to move from the general ward to a private room after the birth, all medical procedures (including the delivery) and doctor’s fees are recalculated based on your new accommodation.