Call for more measures to strengthen families &
enable more self reliance
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia
| Posted: 21 February 2010 0001
hrs
SINGAPORE: More measures must be in place to strengthen
families and enable greater self-reliance, say those in the social
service sector. They also say that the first line of defence is to
ensure everyone stays employed.
Food rations come in handy for Madam Nor Habibah, who has been hit
by the economic downturn. For months, her family of eight has been
staying in a one-room flat with four other relatives. She said her
flat was repossessed by the bank, after they defaulted on
payments.
Her husband, who works as a cleaner, is the sole breadwinner,
earning less than $1,000 a month. She said: "I hope we will get a
house, better for my children. To buy (a house)....CPF also not
enough. Actually I want to be working, but (you) see how my
children (I have)? Nobody takes care (of them if I work)."
As Singapore recovers economically, some MPs say extending more
support to such families must be a priority.
Seah Kian Peng, chairman of GPC for Community Development, Youth
and Sports, said: "My concern will be people who are unable to get
a job or lose jobs. I think that really triggers a burden on the
family. This is why there is a need to grow the economic pie and to
create jobs. The need to place Singaporeans in jobs is very
important.
"First level of social support is if we can find everyone a job, it
takes care of a huge set of problems.
"If we have strong families, it must necessarily mean that there
are fewer families that can be broken up for a variety of
reasons....but when such situations occur, it must lead to more
support that is subsequently required, more resources required, to
look after this group of people."
Zainudin Nordin, mayor of Central Community Development Council,
said: "If a person has a problem at home, how can you send him to
upgrade and improve himself, so we need to solve that too. So that
is the kind of network that we want to strengthen, which I have
mentioned earlier.
"At the end of the day, we have to make sure they get a job,
because social support and financial assistance will just be the
first level of assistance.
"In the long run, you need to get them more employable, get them a
job so that they can strengthen their family."
The many-helping-hands approach in building a social safety net
must therefore be more comprehensive to ensure no one falls through
the cracks.
Mohd Ali Mahmood, executive director of PPIS Jurong Family Service
Centre, said: "I see the possibility of having more FSCs (family
service centres) to address issues, especially not just financial
but also basic family dysfunctionality."
There's also the need to address the shortage of social workers and
retain those already in the sector.
Mr Seah said: "The strengthening of the social service
sector....what I call the support enablers. There is this big group
of social workers...I think they are under-rated, they are
under-appreciated. So I think the schemes are not in place to
credit them, to professionalise them...."
Halimah Mohamed Ibrahim, a programme coordinator at Tanjong Pagar
Family Service Centre, said: "Because of the limited number of
Malay-Muslims social workers who are conversant in Malay language,
we have to take up more Malay-Muslim cases. So our caseload becomes
higher."
Separately, with Singapore's ageing population, providing more day
care centres and effective programmes to engage senior citizens is
also important.
Stakeholders believe that when it comes to social support,
assistance schemes, by and large, they are doing quite well.
But they say it is important to constantly review the relevance of
the schemes as what works today may not necessarily work in the
future.
- CNA/ir