Govt to boost support for abused children

By Sara Grosse, Channel NewsAsia, 2 Dec 2011

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) will set up a specialist agency for child protection to intensify efforts to support children of abuse.

Minister of State for MCYS, Halimah Yacob, said this is an initiative arising from the Child Protection Review this year.

The Review was initiated to identify strengths and challenges in the current range of schemes to protect children.

While there are centres available to deal with family violence, there are not any specifically for children.

The three family centres in Singapore dealing with violence are Centre for Promoting Alternatives to Violence(PAVe), TRANS SAFE Centre and Care Corner Project StART.

MCYS plans to fill that gap with a Specialist Agency on Child Protection that provides intensive risk assessment and treatment for abused children.

Mdm Halimah Yacob said: "We know children, because they are young, because of age, inexperience, lack of contact with the outside world, they are a lot more vulnerable.

"So, we need to work with schools, hospitals, other agencies, the prisons, the police and all that.

"But everything will come under this one focal point.

"For instance, if in a school, a teacher feels a child could be a victim of abuse, what the teacher could do is then refer (the child) to this specialised agency. This specialised agency will do all the follow-up work."

The specialised agency will act as a supplementary service for high-risk cases, which are managed by the Child Protection Service.

It will also be a step-up service for community agencies managing medium-risk cases.

Agnes Chia, centre director for Care Corner Project StART, said: "We focus on a whole spectrum, from the young to parents, (and) even the elderly.

"The merit of the specialised centre is that it has the resources to actually look into the care needs and protective needs of the young.

"If, let's say, there is a particular child protection agency, what they can take care of, probably, might be the whole continuum of child protective service, like, maybe, including supervised access service."

The MCYS is also looking at developing a national out-of-home care service framework for children of abuse who may need to be placed in an alternative environment other than their home.

This framework will articulate policies and best practices for professionals dealing with this particular group.

This could mean additional training for caregivers, such as foster parents or relatives, to ensure the child is being properly looked after.

Madam Halimah added that the current inter-ministry Workgroup on the Management of Child Abuse will also be enhanced to include a wider representation.