SSR Conference 2019- List of Presentation Abstracts Panel 1: Early Childhood Panel Moderator: Dr Sum Chee Wah, Advisor, Pre-school Education, Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) Giving Infants from Low-Income Families a Headstart: Insights from KIDS 0-3 By Associate Professor Winnie Goh Hwee Suat, Program lead, Senior Consultant, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Ms Valerie Goh Wan Zhi, Senior Medical Social Worker, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital Early brain development forms an important foundation for future learning and healthy social emotional development. Kids Integrated Development Service (KIDS 0-3) is a preventive early intervention home visitation programme targeting low-income families from pregnancy till the child reaches 3 years old with the aim of optimising child development. Service delivery is based on the neuroscience of early brain development and its environmental influence, in particular, toxic stress and care-giver response. In this paper, we will present the lessons learnt in service delivery and its early outcome. The importance of health and social integration with collaborative community partnership will be elaborated. Improving Early Childhood Outcomes for Children and Families: Lessons from our KidSTART Journey By Ms Seah Yang Hee, Director, Child Development Department, Early Childhood Development Agency This presentation shares ECDA’s initiatives and efforts to ensure a good start for every child, focusing on the KidSTART pilot which aims to provide upstream and holistic wrap-around support for young children from low-income families. The sharing will also include learnings from implementing KidSTART in partnering low-income families, working with community partners to strengthen the ecosystem of support and facilitating proper implementation of the programme. Panel 2: Childhood and school Panel Moderator: Dr Neo Yu Wei, Research Fellow, Social Service Research Centre, FASS, NUS Poor yet intimate: Parent-child closeness among low-income families in Singapore By Associate Professor Esther Goh Chor Leng, Head of Department, Social Work, FASS, NUS It is well documented in literature the positive effect of parent-child closeness on children’s outcomes, particularly academic performance. Most research, however, considered parental qualities/style as independent factors that shaped the nature of secure attachment which in turn result in children’s school engagement and academic outcome. Little research attention is paid on the role children play in parent-child closeness. In addition, there is a dearth of literature on parent- child intimacy among low-income families. This paper utilizes an innovative theory – Social Relational Theory – that accords parent and children as equal agents, to investigate parents’ experience of closeness in their interaction with children from low-income families. The findings of this paper provide valuable insights that low-income families are organically capable to alleviate tension by forging intimate and close relationships. These are potential protective factors that could be exploited to build resilience despite risks.
Aspirations and Outlook: Effects of SES and Youth Pathways By Ms Nursila Senin, Research Executive, Social Service Research Centre, FASS, NUS, and Associate Professor Irene Y.H. Ng, Director, Social Service Research Centre, FASS, NUS Using international comparisons and our own research, we first show Singapore’s high educational inequality by SES. We then discuss the potential and considerations of the replacement of educational streaming with subject bands. Drawing lessons from systems such as Germany, which made its streams more flexible and introduced comprehensive schools, we discuss how the policy reform might impact inequality in educational performance, aspirations and life outlook. We link the lessons not only to school outcomes but also career pathways and discuss ways to improve the educational opportunities of students from low-income families. Panel 3: Making Ends Meet: Work and Family Panel Moderator: Dr. Walter Theseira, Associate Professor of Economics, Singapore University of Social Sciences Low Waged Work: Trends and Possibilities By Associate Professor Irene Y.H. Ng, Director, Social Service Research Centre, FASS, NUS Low waged work in industrialized economies is increasingly at risk. Wages are depressed, and jobs are becoming more insecure with poor job conditions. Set in the context of rising worldwide income inequality, what policy responses can address these challenges? What role can social services play? This presentation discusses Singapore’s labour market trends and policies in international context. Noting the pros and cons of our “employment maximization” and “growth oriented” policy context, it aims to invite new possibilities to professionals and stakeholders working together to enable self- reliance and “make work pay”. The Field Perceptions of Unlicensed Money Lenders By Mr Jansen Ang, Deputy Director, Police Psychological Services Division, Singapore Police Force The “Loan Shark” or Unlicensed Money Lender (UML) syndicate is a phenomenon found in many societies around the world. Understanding the individual and organisational processes that maintains the resilience of the UML syndicates would help us understand what sustains this form of offending despite the intensive enforcement against UML Offenders. Understanding the field perception of the Unlicensed Money Lender and the narrative it has in the field provides an understanding of the role UML plays in the community, what can be done about the situation, as well as what can be done to mitigate the criminal risk from Unlicensed Money Lending offences. In this study, the psychology of Unlicensed Money Lending offending is uncovered to provide an understanding of the dangers it posed to the community as well as what can be done to prevent the community from being entangled with the “Loan Sharks”.
Panel 4: The Golden Years Panel Moderator: Ms Long Chey May, Group Chief Patient Officer, National University Health System; President, Singapore Association of Social Workers (2017-2019) Minimum income standards for older people in Singapore: How much is enough By Assistant Professor Ng Kok Hoe, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS, A/P Teo You Yenn, Provost's Chair in Sociology, Head of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Dr Neo Yu Wei, Research Fellow, Social Service Research Centre, FASS, NUS, and Dr Adlina Maulod, Research Fellow, Centre for Ageing Research and Education (CARE), Duke-NUS Medical School While income security is a major goal in social policy, there has been no precise benchmark of how much people need to live adequately in Singapore. This study establishes the budgets that older adults need for a basic standard of living, through consensual focus groups where ordinary members of public deliberate and agree on the things required for people to meet their physical, emotional and social participation needs. The findings can inform the design of social services and policies, and help to promote social inclusion. They suggest that ordinary citizens should be involved in setting standards for decent living. Healthcare affordability for the future elderly in Singapore By Mr Christopher Gee, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS Health is unequally distributed. Healthcare costs of those aged 75+ years are almost triple that of working aged persons, and care costs for the elderly are by far the single largest component of consumption. Singapore’s S+3M healthcare financing system provides a safety net for most residents, but low-income elderly households with limited savings are particularly vulnerable to health shocks. This presentation evaluates the policy initiatives that can allow the health and long- term care system keep costs affordable for Singapore’s future elderly. Panel 5: Working with Low-income Families: Research Insights Panel Moderator: Ms Cindy Ng, Director—Professional Standards, Methodist Welfare Services Bleeding Hearts or Tough Love? How Do Social Workers Decide on Financial Assistance? By Dr Ong Qiyan, Deputy Director (Research), Social Service Research Centre, FASS, NUS, and Dr Neo Yu Wei, Research Fellow, Social Service Research Centre, FASS, NUS Social workers in Singapore are often called upon to provide their assessments of the individual’s or family’s circumstances to the administrators of financial assistance schemes because these schemes are highly means-tested and conditional upon applicants meeting strict criteria determined by these schemes. Depending on their perceptions of poverty and how these perceptions affect their assessment, social workers commonly resort to either a “bleeding hearts” or a “tough love” narrative to guide their decisions. Our study seeks to find out how social workers construct these narratives and how their perceptions of poverty affect their decisions on financial assistance when they are unconstrained by any pre-existing criteria for assessment.
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