Supporting families and children through improved programmes leveraging on data analytics and insights

Valued partners
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Assalaamualaikum wrt wbr and a very good morning.

1. I am very happy to be here at the second C.H.I.L.D seminar. The Syariah Court (SYC) first initiated the C.H.I.L.D seminar in 2014. As you might know, C.H.I.L.D is an acronym that stood for “Can’t Handle If Love’s Divided”. That seminar focused on child-centric efforts aimed at reducing the negative impact of divorce on children.

2. Three years on, SYC has collaborated with community partners to put in place various programmes to protect the interests and welfare of its clients and their children. For example, SYC has established processes for post-divorce child care arrangement, and this is particularly important for high risk cases. SYC has also introduced differentiated case management for cases with a high risk of domestic violence, and also provides for supervised access or visitation for high-conflict families. To ensure that the child’s best interests are well looked-after, SYC also takes into account social welfare reports in determining custody, care and control arrangements for children.

3. Today’s seminar marks the strong, continued collaboration between SYC and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). The acronym, C.H.I.L.D., has been refreshed too and now stands for “Children’s Happiness Involves Loving Dads&Mums”. I fully agree, and fully support all that the staff and community partners are doing to support families and their children.
   
   A forward-looking Court

4. The SYC had made important changes this year. In June, I announced SYC’s leadership renewal. We now have a new slate of SYC presidents, while the previous team continues to contribute as advisors and ad-hoc presidents. I am confident that the new SYC leadership will continue the Court’s journey as a key institution in shaping Muslim family law in Singapore.

5. In August, I also introduced a Bill to amend the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) to further strengthen our key institutions to better serve our Muslim community. The SYC was an important contributor to the review process, and the amendments demonstrate a strong sense of social responsibility and vision among our key Muslim institutions, such as the SYC.
   
   Local studies on Muslim divorces

6. Today’s seminar will provide deeper insights into support programmes at SYC that promote amicable parenting to reduce the impact of divorce on children. SYC’s Marriage Counselling Programme has been key to saving distressed marriages. It educates both parents on post-divorce parenting and care arrangements for children. This is because divorce does not end the parent-child relationship, and the child deserves loving dads and mums.

7. The SYC continues to look ahead and strive for improvements. It will strengthen its programmes with better use of data. We all know data can uncover hidden patterns, and provide us with insights on where we can do better to serve Singaporeans.

8. In this regard, I am encouraged with SYC’s effort to build up its understanding and knowledge through expert-led studies on local Muslim divorces and the effectiveness of support programmes. These studies may, for now, be modest in number and scope, but they provide useful insights into the issues we are dealing with. Importantly, they help inform our strategies and programmes to better help Singaporeans.

9. The session today will discuss several studies, but allow me to share just two of the studies.
   
   (A) Marriage Counselling Programme

10. The first study is about the Marriage Counselling Programme, or MCP. In 2016, SYC worked with two NUS Social Work students for a qualitative study on the effectiveness of its MCP. This first attempt to measure MCP’s performance and success noted the following.

11. First, a positive attitude towards marriage is key to saving a troubled marriage. Second, most couples are generally unwilling to attend marriage counselling regardless of whether they reconciled or divorced. The study showed that those who subsequently reconciled had participated fully and seriously in counselling, which corrected their negative perceptions of marriage counselling. Third, SYC is seen to have the authority to get parties to attend marriage counselling, which parties would not attend if they are left to decide. In sum, the SYC and the counsellors have therefore been key agents in helping couples to reconcile. What we must do continually is to improve the MCP so that marriages that can be saved, are indeed saved.
    
    (B) Financial problems and divorce

12. The second study was a joint-effort by SYC and the then-InfoComm Development Authority (IDA)^[1] on the link between financial problems and divorces. The study found that parties from different income groups had expressed similar financial problems, for instance, insufficient and irregular funds for the family’s living expenses, inability to provide for children’s expenses, and being in debt to family and friends.

13. Financial problems have therefore been cited as one of the top factors causing divorce. If left unmanaged, the financial strain will increase with divorce, especially for the man, who may have to provide spousal and child support. It may be even tougher for the husband if he chooses to remarry and has more children from the new marriage.

14. I am happy that the SYC continues to be a socially responsible court that retains a strong focus on the relationship between parents and their children. Marriage counselling has been part of the divorce process since the early days of the Court, which has developed strong programmes that protect the welfare of children.
    
    Conclusion

15. The SYC’s clients are going through very tough moments in their life. So the SYC and its partners will strive to improve its programmes and processes and serve Singapore’s Malay/Muslim community the best it can. Its analysis of data and translation of insights into improving programmes is in the right direction.

16. Today’s seminar provides new insights into Muslim divorces. I thank SYC and MSF for taking this bold step in sharing their findings, which will help all community organisations that help families and children affected by divorce.

17. In this regard, I hope the efforts by the SYC and MSF will encourage our Malay/Muslim organisations and those working with the Malay/Muslim community to develop their capabilities in data collection and analysis, and to share their findings in such fora. Through the better use of evidence and research, community organisations can make their programmes and interventions more effective to benefit their clients.

18. Before I end, allow me to say a few words in the National Language.
    
    Malay text

19. Seminar hari ini menampilkan kerjasama yang teguh di antara Mahkamah Syariah dengan Kementerian Pembangunan Sosial dan Keluarga (MSF). Ia akan berkongsi pandangan yang mendalam bagi program-program sokongan di Mahkamah Syariah yang bertujuan menggalakkan ibu bapa berbaik bagi mengurangi kesan perceraian negative terhadap anak-anak.

20. Saya gembira yang Mahkamah Syariah terus menjadi sebuah mahkamah yang bertanggungjawab membantu pasangan yang bermasalah dan anak-anak mereka. Sejak ditubuhkan, Mahkamah Syariah telah melaksanakan kaunseling rumahtangga. Sekarang, Mahkamah Syariah telah membangun sebagai sebuah institusi dengan program sokongan yang utuh bagi menjaga kebajikan dan keinginan anak-anak. Saya berterimakasih kepada rakan-rakan masyarakat yang sama-sama menjayakanya dengan Mahkamah Syariah.

21. Usaha Mahkamah Syariah untuk menambahkan bahan rujukan tempatan mengenai perceraian masyarakat Islam Singapura amat menggalakkan. Harapan saya agar usaha yang dimulakan oleh Mahkamah Syariah ini dapat dicontohi oleh badan-badan Melayu/Islam. Saya ingin menggalakkan badan-badan Melayu/Islam untuk membina keupayaan mereka mengumpul dan menganalisa data, serta berkongsi maklumat baru hasil usaha itu bersama rakan-rakan masyarakat yang lain.

22. I hope today’s sharing will inspire us to better strategize and synergize our work for families in crisis, especially those with children. On that note, I wish you a very fruitful seminar.

23. Thank you.