Supporting Single Mothers

As the local Member of Parliament, I hold regular daily phone discussions in a WhatsApp group chat comprising myself, my grassroots ComCare lead, the Social Service Office General Manager, the Family Service Centre social workers and heads of the local Senior Activity Centres. Almost daily, we discussed families in need and nudged each other to join efforts to solve the problems of families presented to us.

Sir, the demand for social services in our increasingly ageing, stressful and at times complicated society is on the rise – challenges of the elderly lonely; the single-parent family; the widows; the orphans; families of parents who are incarcerated; abandoned parents; disabled parents; disabled children – there is just that much bandwidth that each well-meaning volunteer, Member of Parliament or social service staff can cover. 

There is a strong need to strengthen our current social services delivery system in anticipation of these rapidly increasing needs. The current Social Services Network delivery system needs to be extended and resourced further.

I would like to ask the Ministry to consider adopting features of the Municipal Services Office (MSO) model which might be relevant. The MSO was started to improve Government’s overall coordination and delivery of municipal services relating to estate management which involves currently more than 10 agencies. It is led by a Minister-level leader no less, and uses technology apps and data analytics to drive proactive problem solving. Annual resources are invested each year into the MSO to drive productivity and template solutions for recurring problems.

I feel strongly that there is potential of a similar, albeit modified, MSO model in the social services landscape. Create a mother of all Social Services Offices (SSOs) with mini SSOs in the network to lead and coordinate partners, such as the Family Service Centres (FSCs), Senior Activity Centres, HDB, MOE, PUB, Town Councils and the CDCs, using technology, data analytics and the like. 

Will MSF study the MSO model and adopt the relevant principles and features for a similar SSO model led by the Minister himself? Will MOF allocate more funds to resource a stronger social services delivery system for the MSF?