Care practice guidelines for child protection professionals: MSF

SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) guidelines outlining appropriate care practices for parents and children are intended for professionals in the child protection system who work directly with at-risk families.

These include children who have suffered or are at risk of abuse, neglect or harm, said a ministry spokesperson, responding to questions about the intended users of the guidelines and the experts consulted in the process. .

This follows a report from The Straits Times on December 5 on the first guide of its kind for practitioners, providing recommendations in areas such as expression of affection, intimacy and hygiene. The guidelines were announced at the Asian Families Conference in November.

The “Healthy Family Boundaries Guidelines” say, for example, that it is inappropriate for parents to regularly bathe their child of the opposite sex when they can do so independently, and to force a child to show physical affection to someone he is not comfortable with. .

These guidelines are intended for social service practitioners in family service centers, child welfare centers, health care professionals such as pediatricians and medical social workers, and school counselors and health workers. social protection for students, MSF said.

The ministry said the guide was developed after receiving reports or questions from professionals and parents about whether certain parenting practices were appropriate in its child protection work.

These included a parent who showered an eight-year-old child of the opposite sex even though the child was capable of washing himself, and a parent who slept alone in the same bed with a 13-year-old child of the opposite sex. opposite sex despite the child’s discomfort.

While the parents said they were unaware of the danger they were causing, MSF or the professionals involved had to advise them to maintain healthy boundaries with their child, MSF said.

“These examples show that sometimes, due to a lack of awareness of clear family boundaries, parents’ practices can inadvertently make their child more likely to be harmed in other settings such as schools and other settings social,” he adds.

For example, if a child is constantly pressured by his parents to hug or kiss someone he is not comfortable with, this could condition him to suppress his feelings and make him less likely to report other people who make him uncomfortable.

The ministry said it would disseminate the guidelines to child protection professionals to ensure a consistent approach to child protection.

The guidelines are not intended to be applied or prescriptive in all parenting contexts, but rather to serve as an additional parenting resource for practitioners, he adds.

For families facing special circumstances, such as those with an older child with a disability or a single parent, professionals will help the family ensure that the child’s daily care needs are met while maintaining family boundaries healthy.

MSF took about a year to develop these guidelines in consultation with subject matter experts, such as pediatricians from KK Women and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and National University Hospital (NUH), chiefs of religious, social workers, as well as officials from the Ministry of Education. Guidance Department, which supervises school counselors and student welfare officers.

This was to ensure the guidelines were practical for families participating in the child protection system, the ministry said.

MSF’s Child Protection Service (CPS) investigates cases of severe abuse or neglect of children and adolescents.

For situations that do not require legal intervention, CPS can refer families to community child protection centers for advice and support. For example, parents who use inappropriate or excessive discipline but are willing to get help and improve their parenting methods.

For families facing high emotional and economic stress, CPS can refer them to family service centers and other social service agencies for caregiving support, financial assistance, or advice on how to do better cope with stressors and provide adequate care to their children.

One of the experts consulted by MSF to develop these guidelines was Dr. Peter Wong Choong Yi, senior consultant in the Department of Emergency Medicine at KKH.

He said the guidelines help parents understand how best to avoid situations where there is a risk of inappropriate interactions or actions that may be psychologically harmful to children, even if well-intentioned.

Dr Wong, a member of the hospital’s suspected child abuse and neglect team, said the guide will help pediatricians better advise parents and be more aware of “red flags” to monitor when working with children and families, to identify any concerns. inappropriate family interactions that can be harmful to a child.

He said he has also encountered numerous cases of alleged child abuse in his work as a pediatrician, where a parent feels unfairly accused because their interactions with the child were well-intentioned. “If these guidelines are accepted and enforced, many of these situations could be avoided,” he said.

Dr Wong added: “As a parent, I want to know how to avoid situations that can harm the dignity and well-being of my children, even if there is no intention of harm. I want to show affection in an appropriate way that my children appreciate, rather than feeling uncomfortable.

• Shermaine Ang is a journalist at The Straits Times, where she covers social issues in Singapore.

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