Care models should go beyond domestic help: Chan Chun Sing
Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing at the annual Social Workers' Day Symposium at Concorde Hotel Singapore yesterday. Photo: Robin Choo
SINGAPORE — With the Republic facing the challenges of changing family structures and an ageing population, Singaporeans need to look beyond care models of having foreign domestic helpers at home or having institutionalised homes, said Social and Family Development Minister Chan Chun Sing yesterday.
Speaking to some 500 social workers at the annual Social Workers’ Day Symposium at Concorde Hotel Singapore, he suggested piloting “self-organising” models that are somewhere in between relying on domestic helpers and on institutionalised homes.
With people living so close to each other here, such as in towns and precincts — unlike in the United States, where communities tend to be spread out — these new models may be able to tap economies of scale, said Mr Chan, in what he deemed as the last formal occasion, for the social work sector, that he was attending as part of the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).
Mr Chan, who in January was appointed Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, is scheduled to join the labour movement full time next month.
In his speech, Mr Chan said he hopes to see the improvements in the area of local social science research. Reflecting on his ministry’s work after being in office for about four years, Mr Chan said while a lot of the research work tends to come from overseas, he urged the sector to not shy away from sharing its own work. This may include sharing Singapore’s experience in trying to move beyond providing basic subsistence, such as money transfers, by allowing families to have a sense of ownership through accumulating some assets to plan for the future. Most countries used money transfers to address poverty, Mr Chan noted.
The MSF, he added, has also tried to “bootstrap” standards and protocols so that people beyond the sector will listen to the views of social workers.
During the parliamentary debate on the ministry’s budget last week, the MSF said it would work with the family services sector to implement a Code of Social Work Practice. The code will be enacted across all social services organisations to ensure common professional standards.
Professionals in the sector told TODAY they had noticed improvements in the sector in recent years.
Mr Isaac Teo, from the Ang Mo Kio Family Service Centre Community Services, said the improvement in social workers’ remuneration had been “heartening” for the sector.
Mr Alvin Chua, president of the Singapore Association of Social Workers, noted that interest in social work had grown, with more mid-career professionals making the switch to become social workers. Siau Ming En
