MSF to look into ways to protect vulnerable adults unable to care for themselves

SINGAPORE — Minister of Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing announced today (Jan 15) that the ministry will look into protecting vulnerable adults who are unable to care for themselves through self-neglect.

Speaking at the National Family Violence Networking Symposium today, Mr Chan said: “In MSF when we draw up the new legislation for the Vulnerable Adults Act, beyond abuse by third parties, we’re seriously considering how we can put in provision for the protection of vulnerable adults who are unable to take care of themselves, maybe inflict upon themselves harm or it may do damage to their well-being.”

The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) had previously said it will be working to introduce a new legislation by the end of this year to protect vulnerable adults — majority of which are the elderly — suffering from third-party abuse and neglect.

While it is more straightforward to identify cases of third-party abuse, Mr Chan said more work is needed to define the parameters for self-neglect, decide when and what kind of intervention is needed, and the roles of individual community partners.

While the number of such cases are still far and few between, he added that issues of elderly care will only increase as the proportion of elderly in Singapore increase, compounded by the fact that there are an increasing number of elderly with no close relatives to reply on for care as family structures continue to change.

“In 15 years time, the number of cases may balloon but we have 15 years from now (until) then to develop a community of practice, to develop a common language of assessment, to develop a set of protocols that we can all share and understand,” said Mr Chan, addressing the 500 professionals who attended the symposium.

“If we can do all that, then I’m sure that in 15 years time, even if the cases increase tremendously, we should have built up the capabilities for us to be future-ready.”