MCYS to build specialised homes for vulnerable children and youths

By Qiuyi Tan, Channel NewsAsia, 1 Feb 2012

MCYS is pumping in S$13 million to build specialised homes for vulnerable children and youths in the next four years.

Called Small Group Homes, the homes will provide more intensive services and care for children with higher needs. These include therapy and personalised tutoring and mentoring.

There are about 900 children and youths living in children's homes as of January 2012. These homes have a staff-to-children ratio of about one to 25.

But this may not be enough for some of the most vulnerable and needy children.

The Small Group Homes will address the higher emotional, social and development needs of these children, with one staff for every three children.

Two such homes will be set up by August 2012, and four more will be progressively developed from 2013 to 2015.

Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob announced the initiative at a residential care conference on Wednesday morning.

She said: "We recognise there are children who really do need intensive care, closer supervision, individualised attention and closer engagement. These are the children with higher needs who will benefit from the Small Group Homes.

"All the children going into the small group homes will, of course, be coming from existing homes. We will be working very closely with the management staff of the homes to identify the children who really need specialised attention."

Two such homes will be set up by August 2012, and four more will be progressively developed from 2013 to 2015.

There are currently 22 children's homes in Singapore, run mainly by voluntary welfare organisations.

Lakshmi Alagappan, residential programme director of Gracehaven, said: "For the community, it's an added resource. In terms of existing homes, it's going to take away some pressure because right now, we handle all kinds of cases together, which comes from very different, multiple needs, dysfunctional families and extremely challenging behaviour at times."

The ministry also announced additional programmes and assessment tools for all children's homes in Singapore. They include a resilience building programme for children who have undergone trauma.

Also in the works is a training framework for professionals working in children's homes.

At the same time, MCYS is rolling out the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS), an internationally recognised tool developed for children's services to support decision making, including level of care and service planning.