Babies Born to Teenage Mothers in Past Five Years and Assistance Provided

8 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) for each year in the past five years, how many babies are born to mothers who are (i) below 14 years old (ii) above 14 years old but below 16 years old and (iii) above 16 years old but below 20 years old; and (b) what assistance is provided to such families?

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Eric Chua) (for the Minister for Social and Family Development): Sir, the data the Member requested can be found in the Annual Report on Registration of Births and Deaths published by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

Pregnant mothers who are minors receive emotional and practical support from a multidisciplinary team that includes doctors and nurses, counsellors and medical social workers. Following childbirth, the team will also continue to follow up with the mother for review.

In addition, support for the mother and her family is also available in the community, depending on their specific needs. The medical social workers will assess the needs of the mothers and make the relevant referrals to the social service agencies. For instance, the Social Service Offices (SSOs) can provide ComCare assistance to young mothers in lower-income households.

Eligible pregnant mothers can also join KidSTART, which will provide additional support to help them keep well physically and mentally before childbirth and equip them to nurture their child's development after their child is born. They can also be referred to Family Service Centres or FSCs, if they require support to address any social and emotional needs.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Sir, I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the reply. I think the report does say the number of births from teenage mothers, but it does not have the breakdown of the data that I have requested in my Parliamentary Question (PQ). So, if I could ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary whether that data could be provided.

Second, I do understand that some support is given to these teenage mothers, but could I just ask whether there is a specific social worker that is attached to these teenage mothers to journey with them along the way and how long exactly is this help provided to them?

I am asking all these because I am helping this child now who has been sentenced to a Girls' Home and I just realised that her mother actually gave birth to her when she was 15. So, I think there might be a vicious cycle ahead that we might need to address.

Mr Eric Chua: Sir, I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. I would refer the Member to file a PQ with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for a breakdown of the statistics as they reside in ICA.

Regarding the Member's second supplementary question, I think he will agree with me that the nature of such cases are that, in each case, the conditions are complex and there are many stakeholders, many parties involved. And it is not enough for us to take each case and take an approach that is not just sensible, but also sensitive, and delicately handle the situation.

So, I think it really calls upon the entire village, if you will, to detect such cases early and for each of us – it could be the social worker or grassroots leaders on the ground or anyone who raises the alarm – to alert us to such a case, so that we can assess each unique case and then provide that wrap-around.

The provision of a dedicated social worker is one example of how we can journey together with each of these cases, but I think there is more to it than just the provision of social workers. We are talking about a multidimensional approach so that there is a better chance that this problem does not persist, as in the case that Mr Louis Ng brought up, across generations.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: Sir, could I just go back to the point where I think the Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned that it is a medical social worker that does the first, sort of, diagnosis. Is that the case or could we have another scenario where once the child is born, then a social worker would already come to see how we can help journey with this teenage mother?

Mr Eric Chua: Sir, I would like to clarify. The point I was trying to make was that actually anybody can raise the alarm. So, it could well be the medical social worker at the point of a visit to the hospital or the clinic by the person in view, by the teenage mom, or it could well be the family members who raise the alarm, or it could well be teachers and staff from the school. So, what I was trying to say earlier in my reply to the Member's supplementary question was that anyone, any number of stakeholders and parties within this figurative "village", has to step up and raise the alert to social service agencies, to social service officers, so that we can all provide a wrap-around 360-degree-support for each of these cases.