1. 1 A Study to Evaluate the New Dawn (ND) Project of Single Parents/Child Carers under CSSA Scheme Research team Dept. of Social Work & Social Administration, Policy21 Limited The University of Hong Kong

2. 2 Purposes of study Studies the characteristics of the targeted participants, their job-seeking behaviour, barriers to and factors in promoting employment, outcome of employment and the impact on themselves and their children.

3. 3 Study design Main Surveys (1685, ½ year after first contact, response rate 75%) –EA/IEAP (ND) group (1034 persons) –Employed group (206 persons ) –Refusal group (445 persons) Before & After Comparison –Pretest Survey (348, persons, immediately after initial contact, response rate 78.6%) EA/IEAP (ND) group (274 persons) Employed group (33 persons) Refusal group (41 persons) –Posttest Survey (84, ½ year after first contact, response rate 48.6%) EA/IEAP (ND) group (53 persons) Employed group (21 persons) Refusal group (10 persons) In-depth Interviews (9 categories, 28 persons) Focus Group –NGO staff administering ND IEAP (2 groups, 12 persons) –SWD staff administering ND EA (3 groups, 19 persons) –Employers (1 group, 6 persons) International Comparison

4. 4 Summary of findings 50% in ND found jobs, 39 % were working during interview Half of those working wanted to work full-time, a third wanted to work longer hours to increase income. Earn around $3,000; work around 100 hrs/ month Being self-reliance and having better income were the main reasons for taking up employment Children were very supportive to their parent/carer’s employment Relationship and family atmosphere remained good and changed little because of employment

5. 5 Summaries (Cont’d) Before and after comparison: both parents and children’s self- esteem improved for those who were employed after joining the ND Project. These employed parents spent less time with children during weekdays (Monday to Friday) but there was no difference in weekends (Saturday & Sunday). Factors affecting the chance of employment – being female, single parent, < 45, having more family members, stronger support from children, more active in job seeking, smaller amount of CSSA, not living in Tin Shui Wai Focus group findings: success depends on motivation, employment opportunities and personal/family factors Work requirements for single parents are common in many countries; usually compulsory and start early. Sanction, incentive, clear requirement are important

6. 6 Recommendations Continuation with the ND Project (i.e. EA & IEAP), more sharing of good practices are helpful Sanction on those refused to participate in the ND Project can be increased gradually (e.g. doubling every half a year) Participants can be required to participate in job attachment or training to increase their employability Work hour requirement can be increased gradually (to 80-100 hours) Extend to single parents/carers with youngest child in full-time primary school with less work hour requirement Special arrangement for Tin Shui Wai