EFFECTIVENESS OF FAMILY SERVICE CENTRES

EFFECTIVENESS OF FAMILY SERVICE CENTRES:

(Update): 2.

Mr Laurence Wee Yoke Thong asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) if he will give an update on the progress and locations of new Family Service Centres (FSCs); (b) whether factors such as FSCs having limited outreach capabilities due to limited manpower and needy families having

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difficulties in travelling to FSCs are taken into account when building the new FSCs; and (c) whether he will consider establishing satellite FSCs nearer to the needy such as at Community Clubs and Residents Committee Centres.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Speaker, my Ministry completed a review of the Family Service Centre (FSC) programme last year. The review reaffirmed the core mission of FSCs to provide social intervention for families and individuals in need. We also agreed to provide more resources to FSCs, including additional social workers and social work associates. The review also proposed building stronger links with key community partners and establishing more FSCs to enhance their geographical coverage.

Five new FSCs will be developed in areas with high demand over the next five years, to increase the total number of FSCs from 36 to 41. The first new FSC – to be run by PPIS (Persatuan Permudi Islam Singapura) at Bedok (Block 41, Chai Chee Street) – is on track to begin its operations by June this year. We have also begun preparations for the second and third new FSCs at Telok Blangah and Tampines respectively.

We are in the process of identifying the VWOs and specific sites for the additional FSCs, and will make announcements at the appropriate time.

Various factors are taken into account in the planning for the new FSCs. The aim is to ensure that FSCs have sufficient reach on the ground and are accessible to the needy families. New FSCs will be built in communities with high population densities, a large number of low-income families, and where the existing FSCs in the area have high sustained caseloads.

It is important to emphasise that FSCs do not work in isolation. The outreach on

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the ground is amplified through collaboration with the key stakeholders – CDCs, schools, Government agencies, grassroots organisations, community and religious groups – in order to extend the delivery of services to the needy. Where necessary, we have also set up satellite FSCs, as Mr Laurence Wee has suggested, to bring social services closer to residents. These can co-locate with other social services to increase the outreach to the community. For example, Fei Yue FSC provides satellite FSC services within a multi-service cluster in Teck Whye, which also offers student care and eldercare services.

Mr Laurence Wee Yoke Thong (Nominated Member): I would like to thank the Minister for the update. I would also like to commend the Ministry for upgrading the salaries of social workers. With regard to the provision of satellite FSCs, many in the disabled and low-income groups will find that there is a need for the satellite FSCs. What will the Ministry be looking at in terms of policy formulation in strengthening the linkages between the main FSCs and the satellite FSCs, just like the LRT and the MRT station systems? What are the crucial areas the Ministry will be looking at?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I agree with Mr Wee that we need to ensure that the FSCs are accessible, especially for people who may be needy and who may not be able to afford to travel long distances, as well as the elderly or the disabled who have physical difficulties if FSCs are far away. But we also have to achieve an optimal balance between decentralisation and ensuring that these satellites have enough staff to be able to provide the full range of services that are needed.

As far as the linkage between the main FSC and the satellite FSC, usually, the administrative overheads are shared. For instance, you do not need multiple

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administrators; you may have one administrator who can oversee two or even maybe three sites. So wherever possible, there needs to be shared services. At the same time, the professionals, the social workers and their associates may also sometimes need to be re-deployed in order to ensure that wherever there is greater need, services are provided.

Far more important than that linkage between the main FSC and the satellite FSC is the linkage on the ground with all the other organisations that I alluded to just now. Making sure we have appropriate links with the grassroots organisations, with the Mayors, with the other VWOs. What we need now is a social safety net which is well integrated. I think we have a lot of facilities, services, agencies, VWOs all out there in the community. We can do more. We can enhance their resources but the key thing now is integration. So we need better communication. For instance, there should be no "wrong door". Whatever the need is, even if the person has gone through the "wrong door", or the wrong agency, we should ensure that there is proper communication, collaboration and coordination. This is something that is still work-in-progress and I will be the first to admit that we can do much better in this area.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): I would like to ask the Minister, with this integration, the most important thing is the shared information of the family in need with all the social organisations. Will the Minister look into all the shared information from CDCs to the rest of the social organisations in the network?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: I agree there is a need to share information. Actually, a significant start has already been made. There is a ComCare database where all the agencies involved are supposed to upload the relevant data. For instance, all

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the advisors on the ground have a password-protected access. The advisor will then know who has received what help. The key objective is to ensure no one falls through the cracks and, at the same time, to make sure there is no unnecessary duplication of services. But we can still do better.

Mr Speaker: Mdm Halimah, last question.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): The Minister mentioned at the Committee of Supply (COS) debate that there would be five new FSCs that will be built over the next couple of years. In view of the increase in demand for the services of the FSCs, I would like to know whether we can have more FSCs than the five. Second question is whether increasing the remuneration of the social workers would be sufficient to attract them? What other measures are being considered to attract more people to join the social work profession?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: I mentioned five. The key limiting factor is not physical space. The key limiting factor is getting VWOs willing and able to establish these FSCs. And as the Member has alluded to, the most critical factor there are the professionals involved. The social workers, the counsellors and the other associates. We do need to make sure that we can attract enough people into this sector. So, for instance, I am always leaning on the National University of Singapore (NUS) and now even the SIM University (UniSIM) to make sure that there are appropriate undergraduate as well as mid-career courses to allow people to enter this profession but with adequate training. We have made some moves to improve the pay but, on its own, that is not going to be enough. We need to make sure people give sufficient recognition to social workers and the incredible workload that they all struggle under. We also have made efforts to provide more opportunities for them to upgrade

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themselves or to take sabbaticals. I am also looking at opportunities for the more senior social workers to be able to be promoted or to move into larger organisations. This is very sensitive because, obviously, each VWO does not want to lose its best and its most capable.

But we have to find a right balance so that people, when they enter the social work profession, know that there is potential for growth, potential for promotions as well as at different stages in their careers they may want to do different things. So, for instance, we have to make sure that there is a reasonably free flow of talent between the FSCs on the ground with NCSS as the sector coordinator and even with the Ministry because, I think, social workers will be able to contribute significantly to policy formulation in my Ministry. So, there are many things that we need to do but the key thing is to increase the recruitment, maintain retention and to keep them refreshed and sharp so that their passion and their dedication does not wane over time.