There is a Plan B: volunteers help Hong Kong's expat single parents

When Claudia Garcia (not her real name) followed her husband to Hong Kong after he was posted here in 2001, she hoped the fresh start might save their troubled marriage. But those hopes were dashed: her husband began travelling frequently for work, especially after the birth of their son; worse, she discovered he had been having an affair.

"To start with, I was in a very dark place filled with anger, resentment, loneliness and sadness. I was not sure whether to stay in Hong Kong or return to the United States where my family is. Also, having not worked for almost eight years, it was hard to decide if I should separate or continue in this very unhealthy relationship," she says.

She divorced in 2011 after a long and turbulent separation. To maintain stability in her son's life, she chose to remain in Hong Kong and return to work. But as Garcia navigated unfamiliar territory as a single mother, her friend Caroline Roy was struck by the lack of readily available support for expats who become single parents, sometimes unexpectedly.

"I realised that single-parent families and singles after trauma are a blind spot in Hong Kong. What concerned me the most was the difficulties faced by trailing spouses who get hurt when their life plan falls apart, be it due to separation, bereavement or a dramatic change in circumstances," says Roy, a German writer who has lived in Hong Kong for the past 12 years.

Although there are groups such as Hong Kong Single Parents Association, these cater primarily to Chinese-speakers. So Roy decided to create a dedicated support network for expat single parents: she wrote a post on her Hongkonqueror blog in May, appealing to readers to join the initiative, and reposted it on popular Facebook groups.