The Society for Community Organisation (Soco) says the government should boost its support services for ethnic minorities and conduct more regular home visits on the vulnerable. Its deputy director, Sze Lai-shan, was commenting after a woman of South Asian descent allegedly killed her three young daughters on Monday.
The family was part of an active case at an NGO. Sze told RTHK that Soco visited the building once a month but hadn't been successful in making contact with the family.
She also said ethnic minorities often found it difficult to seek help, due to language barriers and sometimes a reluctance to talk about family relationships.
Sze said about a hundred households live in the building in Sham Shui Po because, even though the building had originally been meant for 27 households, it had been converted into subdivided flats. She said many people living there were on low incomes and that looking after three small children would be difficult for anyone.
Sze said the family had recently moved into the building and that neighbours, who had spoken with them, were shocked as everything had seemed fine.