SINGAPORE — The Government should intervene earlier to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds and a parenting programme for vulnerable families to improve the well-being and behaviour of their children should be set up.

These were some of the suggestions that Tanjong Pagar GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Lily Neo made, as she tabled a motion in Parliament yesterday calling for greater assistance to be provided to children from disadvantaged families.

Dr Neo said that, in spite of having the same exposure to the education system as children from privileged backgrounds, children living in poverty benefit less because of their social predicaments with regard to their home environment, peer and neighbourhood influences, as well as parental guidance.

The MP suggested that potentially disadvantaged families could be identified as early as during the child’s birth registration, which would “pre-empt” losing track of these children. There should also be greater inter-ministry collaboration and communication to provide better help for needy families over the immediate and long term, Dr Neo added.

In response, Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing laid out the Government’s efforts in providing “more for those with less”.

These included the setting up of Social Service Offices (SSOs), whose role is to link up different government agencies to provide help as “a package”. Last month, the first of about 20 offices to be set up over the next two to three years was launched in Dr Neo’s ward at Kreta Ayer.

The number of Family Service Centres, which provide help to families in the heartlands, will also be increased from the current 40 to 50 over the next two to three years.

The Government’s foster parent scheme will be “enlarged” to allow children from distressed families to have a proper home environment to grow up in within the community rather than spending time in and out of Government-run institutions, Mr Chan said.

He, however, stressed that nothing can replace the role of parents and immediate families.

“We want to provide more help for the parents of these children to be able to take care of their own families, to have a stable environment so the children can benefit from a stable environment and progress in their education. Because without proper education and healthcare, they will be disadvantaged in time to come and a vicious circle will set in,” Mr Chan said.

He added that the ministry is “working hard” on using present data to forecast the social needs that could emerge five to 10 years later. This will take into account the needs of children from cross-cultural marriages, for example.