Parents of undocumented Hong Kong baby have DNA samples taken after arrest
Baby Danny may later be placed in foster care until parents are deemed fit to regain custody, lawmaker says
The parents of an undocumented baby had their DNA samples taken for tests required for their son’s birth registration following their arrest on Tuesday on suspicion of child neglect, Hong Kong police have revealed.
The development on Wednesday came after the Social Welfare Department on Tuesday night said that it had applied to the court for a protection order in the boy’s best interests and had drawn up a care plan.
Legislator Reverend Peter Koon Ho-ming later said the department was expected to take over the baby’s care for at least a year and might arrange foster care after the parents were arrested.
He told the South China Morning Post that the department would later consider placing two-month-old Danny in foster care until his parents were deemed fit to regain custody.
Police arrested the parents on suspicion of ill-treatment of a child or child neglect after they refused a DNA test required for Danny’s birth registration. He was born at home in Hong Kong.
Koon said the department would be “very careful” in assessing the couple, who have a troubled parenting history. Swedish welfare authorities removed their then two-year-old, Finland-born daughter Lily from their care in late 2023.