SINGLE-AGAIN FAMILIES (Programmes to help)

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SINGLE-AGAIN FAMILIES:

(Programmes to help): 10.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam asked the Minister for Community Development and Sports following the Subordinate Courts report on maintenance payments, (a) what special programmes are in place to help the single-again families cope and be independent when maintenance schemes fail; (b) how many children from such families are being helped to remain in school; (c) what programmes are there to help jobless spouses, who default on payments, secure jobs; and (d) what kind of inter-ministerial cooperation is there to ensure that monies, such as the more than $6 million owing to estranged wives and children, can be recovered from ex-husbands without much difficulty.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, single parent families who need help are encouraged to turn to the Family Service Centre in their neighbourhood for assistance. Many families have found support in areas such as counselling, child management, support group, life skills training, talks and workshops beneficial. There are two agencies, HELP Family Service Centre and As Salaam Family Support Centre, which specialise in supporting single parent families. They seek to provide single parents and their children with support, skills and knowledge to enable the family to manage change and overcome challenges.

Where maintenance schemes fail, there are social support schemes that needy

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single parent families can tap on. These schemes provide not just financial assistance, but also support for their children's education and development.

Those who need interim relief can be assisted under the Interim Financial Assistance Scheme (IFAS) or the Rental and Utilities Assistance Scheme (RUAS). Under IFAS, the families receive a monthly allowance and, where necessary, grants to help them pay for the utilities and service and conservancy charges. For families with school-going children, they can seek help from the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme. If the families do not qualify for the MOE Scheme but are in need of assistance, they can apply to IFAS to help the family with school-related expenses, including fees, transport and examination fees. For those living in rental flats, they can apply to RUAS for help in their monthly rental and utilities bills. Their children may also be exempted from paying school fees.

Single parent families with young children can tap on existing pre-school assistance schemes to help them offset the cost of childcare or kindergarten education. The Centre-Based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare is one example. It provides a subsidy on top of the existing Government childcare subsidy. There is also the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KFAS) that subsidises 75% of the monthly kindergarten fees, or up to $600 a year, whichever is lower.

Those who need help to pay for the before-and-after-school programmes for their children can tap on the Student Care Fee Assistance Scheme. This scheme supports children in non-profit Student Care Centres.

For jobless spouses who default on payments, and need assistance to secure a job, they can be assisted under the Work Assistance Programme (WAP). WAP

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is designed specifically to help Singaporeans tide over a period of unemployment and, more importantly, to help the main breadwinner quickly get back to work. The programme is open to low-income individuals and families who may have lost a source of income and who are in need, including single parent families. It provides both employment and short-term social assistance to the recipients. WAP has been implemented since October last year.

Concerning the default of maintenance payments, the Family Court takes a serious view of the issue as it has an impact on the aggrieved party and the dependants. If an estranged spouse fails to make one or more payments required under a maintenance order, the spouse or ex-spouse may apply to the Family Court to enforce the maintenance order. The Court may enforce through one or more ways, including imprisonment, seizure of possessions or garnishee orders.

Apart from using legal channels, the Court has also engaged and partnered various community organisations to address the problem. For example, it launched Project Hope in March 2002 to help maintenance applicants who are in urgent need of financial assistance. Eligible applicants are given food vouchers to tide over this critical period and concurrently referred to the respective Community Development Councils for further assistance.

Last July, the Court also initiated Project SHINE (which stands for Supporting, Helping, Integrating, Nurturing and Enabling) to help applicants who have made at least three enforcement applications. The programme has since been extended to all applicants making maintenance as well as enforcement applications. The applicants and their families are referred to the project's community partners, comprising some Community Development Councils,

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voluntary welfare organisations and self help groups, for a range of services

such as job matching, skills training, counselling for the parents, tuition and school fee assistance for the children.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Sir, may I ask the Minister on the last part regarding recovering some of the monies owing to, more often than not, the wife? How successful have these schemes been in recovering some monies?

There are lots of financial schemes which are available, which is well and good. What is the Minister's assessment on how available and accessible these are and made known to people?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, on the first question, I do not have the details. I will refer it to my colleagues in the Ministry of Law to get some details on the success of the programmes carried out by the Family Court.

On the financial scheme, from the data that we have for the last few years, there is an increase. A lot more families are aware of the assistance out there. We have to thank Members of this House who have referred a lot of cases to the CDCs, and also to members of the public who have alerted us. I am confident that with the outreach programmes that we have put in place by the various partners in this scheme - the VWOs and self-help groups - the CDCs which are responsible for rolling out all these financial assistance schemes have been able to reach out to a wider network of people in Singapore.

Assoc. Prof. Ngiam Tee Liang (Nominated Member): Sir, the Minister has mentioned various schemes. They are very good for those who know how to use them. Is there a fast track system that is coordinated, so that for confirmed

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maintenance cases and for genuine reasons that they are not getting help through the maintenance route, there would be this fast track to help them get assistance from the various other schemes?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, I am not sure whether there is a fast track scheme. But I would like to assure the Member that if a single parent approaches our family service centre, notwithstanding the fact that there is a maintenance order, if she is in need of help, we will help her. I would like to assure him that the assistance to the family in terms of their needs will be catered for once they step into any of the various centres which are available island wide.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Sir, I would like to ask the Minister how many so-called jobless spouses have been helped to find jobs so that they can help their families. Secondly, does the Minister agree that this is a vulnerable group of people and, if so, what kind of inter-Ministerial cooperation can take place from the court at the point of the divorce settlement?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, I must apologise as I do not have the number of people on the WAP scheme but I will try to provide the figure to the Member.

As to whether there is cooperation, I would like to assure the Member that there is close cooperation between MCDS and the courts, because this problem of maintenance orders does affect families. And families which are in distress will need to be helped. So we are in constant contact with our colleagues in the Family Court. And if there are ways in which the Member would like to suggest on how we can best improve our assistance programmes to these families, we will be most happy to discuss with her.