by MP for Aljunied GRC, Sylvia Lim
This cut is about whether some of our most vulnerable children – those caught up in acrimonious divorces – are being alienated from their parents due to inadequate government resources being channelled towards administering court orders. It is also about whether their parents’ rights as enshrined in court orders are being honoured or not.
In acrimonious divorces, the Family Court may order that the parent who does not have care and control of the child gets access under supervision or that the transfer process for access be supervised. The supervising party is usually a Family Service Centre (FSC).
I have received feedback from parents that the court orders take months to be implemented and, even when they are, there are compromises on the access given to these parents.
I understand that after the court issues the order, it takes about one month for the FSC to process it. Thereafter, both parents have to be interviewed by the FSC, which could take another month. It could then take an additional 1 to 2 months before a suitable date for access can be found. Thus, a total of 3 to 4 months passes before the parent with access gets to see the child. After a few sessions, a report is sent to the court for review, after which a final order is made, which may take another month. I am told that it is not uncommon that parents in such situations only see their children 2 to 3 times in 6 months. In addition, I understand that in cases where the court orders liberal access e.g. several times a week, the FSCs were not able to cope with the workload and had advised parents to accept access only once a week.
Sir, because of the delays and infrequent contact, the child may then become alienated from the access parent, which may be very difficult to remedy and even be irreversible.
While some part of the delay is probably caused by the parents, how far do resource limitations at the FSCs aggravate the delays? Should more resources be given to the FSCs, or can other suitable third parties be found to supervise such cases? The well-being of these vulnerable children deserves our attention.