Coordinated support for vulnerable groups to be improved

SINGAPORE — Pledging to improve the coordination among public agencies in providing help to vulnerable groups, Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin has spoken of his frustrations at how individuals requiring attention are not flagged earlier, and, as a result, they sink deeper into their problems before help is finally rendered. 

Speaking to the media yesterday (July 27) about his ministry’s priorities over the next few years, Mr Tan also revealed that there may be broader policy reviews on help for vulnerable groups including children and single mothers, amid the backdrop of changing family structures. Under the reviews, single mothers could get the same benefits as married mothers who currently receive, among other things, 16 weeks of paid maternity. Details will be announced later. 

Mr Tan also identified three areas of focus: Strengthening family relationships, looking after vulnerable groups, and getting more Singaporeans involved in helping others in the community. 

There is a need to improve coordination across the public sector, in order to extend help to those who need it before their problems escalate, he noted. Nurses in polyclinics, for instance, could become aware of other problems faced by patients while speaking to them. Kindergartens could also intervene when fees for a child have not been paid for some time, said Mr Tan.  

“All these are triggers. Sometimes nothing serious but sometimes one indicator here, another indicator there and at the back end, when you begin to connect the dots, a pattern emerges and these are indicators that there are potential vulnerabilities,” said the former Manpower Minister who took over his latest portfolio in April. “I don’t think it is good enough to wait till people trip over and fall and then you help… There are those who actually need help even before they reach that stage. Are there things that we could do?” 

On strengthening family ties, Mr Tan said he was “under no illusion that you can force and you can mandate families to be strong and to spend time together”. But with changing family trends, it is necessary to recognise the importance of family relationships and its ramifications on policies, he said. 

Returning to a theme which he had raised in his first major speech in May as Minister for Social and Family Development, Mr Tan underlined the changing family structures, including the rise in number of “single-member families”. He said: “Who is your first line of support if you don’t have immediate family members? Does is mean siblings, does it mean nieces, nephews, cousins?” 

On improving coordination among public agencies, Mr Tan said that several ministries - including his ministry, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education - were in the process of pulling together data points - such as birth weight and state of nutrition - to identify vulnerable children and address issues such as how and when to intervene. He said: “If you have say, a potential child abuse case, the Ministry of Social and Family Development will step in, investigate, but the child continues to be in school as they should be where it’s appropriate. Then the question of course is then how does the school play a part to support that process?”

Currently, divorced, widowed or unwed mothers are eligible for childcare subsidies. Unwed single parents also get the same parental leave entitlements as married parents and parents who are divorced or widowed. However, unwed mothers are not entitled to the Baby Bonus scheme and the Marriage and Parenthood tax benefits. They get eight weeks’ paid maternity leave, half of what married mothers potentially get. 

The call for single mothers to enjoy the same policy benefits as their married counterparts has long been uttered. In Parliament earlier this month, Nominated Member of Parliament Kuik Shiao-Yin again brought up the issue of equalising the length of paid maternity leave for single mothers. 

In a written answer to Ms Kuik, Mr Tan said he fully understood that unwed working mothers require greater social support, and added that he was reviewing some of these benefits and adjustments would be made, where possible. 

During the interview, Mr Tan said he sees cases of single parents needing assistance quite often. He acknowledged that the support provided for single parents or unwed mothers “really isn’t just about that baby bonus” and the help extended needs to be “much more extensive”. 

Since he took over the ministry, his team has been reviewing benefits for single mothers. “It’s an issue I feel quite strongly about because I do encounter these issues on the ground and I have a great deal of sympathy,” he said. 

Mr Tan said the reviews would be done with a “whole-of-government” perspective, with the health, finance and national development ministries, also looking at issues faced by this group. 

He said that he is mindful of the signals that could be sent by any policy shifts. “I do believe that society is sympathetic to single mums, but we also need to be careful not to appear as we’re encouraging (single parenthood), that actually it’s okay and therefore that it’s something that you could do,” he said.