The custody of a Hong Kong couple’s four-year-old daughter remains in the balance after a Swedish court threw out their attempted appeal against the local social welfare administration’s application to transfer her legal guardianship to a foster family.

The Swedish Social Welfare Committee said in a report dated June 3 that the child, Lily, had to be protected from a “rootless and insecure existence” under the care of her biological parents Tsang Wai-bong and Kwan Pui-sin, according to documents obtained by the South China Morning Post.

The committee also said it had applied to the local court to appoint the girl’s foster parents, whom she had lived with since May 2024, as her “specially appointed legal guardians”.

“Lily has the right to grow up in a home where daily life is characterised by warmth, routines, predictability and safety, and where she feels secure and content every day,” it said.

“The parents have so far shown neither receptivity nor insight regarding their daughter’s best interests, which is why the assessment for continued care remains.”

Amid a series of ill-fated attempts to regain custody of the child in Sweden in recent years, Hongkongers Tsang and Kwan expressed distress over losing their daughter and started a social media page, “Save Lily”, where they uploaded family photos and documents to campaign for her return.

More recently, the Swedish court rejected the couple’s legal challenge against the welfare committee’s application on June 10, saying social welfare reviews were not subject to judicial challenges and that the parents would have to wait for a formal decision by authorities before they could take legal action.