Divorces in Syariah Court that Resulted in Shared Care and Control of Children

115 Ms Mariam Jaafar asked the Minister for Social and Family Development and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (a) what is the percentage of divorces in the Syariah Court that has resulted in shared care and control of the children; and (b) for all cases resulting in shared care and control, what is the proportion of these cases which have complaints or appeals being filed in Court or to a Government agency related to frictions arising from policies affecting such families, such as subsidised housing, in the (i) Family Justice Courts and (ii) Syariah Courts.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The Syariah Court’s mission is to save marriages, settle divorces amicably and deliver just outcomes. The Syariah Court has support services for divorcing couples and their minor children. These support services, such as the Marriage Counselling Programme, are premised on taking a child-centric approach towards handling divorce cases to safeguard the paramount interest and well-being of children affected by divorce and encourage co-parenting, regardless of which parent has the care and control of the child.

Today, the information on shared care and control for Muslim divorces is captured under individual Court orders and will take time to manually collate. Nonetheless, the Syariah Court is embarking on efforts to digitalise its processes and, over time, such data will be captured in digital form, making it easier to generate statistics.