Granting Foster Parents Access to Relevant Health Information of Children Under Their Care
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the mechanisms for foster carers to access health information and prevent birth parents from impeding medical care via digital applications. Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim highlighted delays caused by birth parents cancelling appointments on Health Buddy and suggested dedicated health liaisons between ministries. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Eric Chua responded that MSF secures health information through medical declaration forms or the Children and Young Persons Act if parents refuse cooperation. He clarified that foster parents receive identification letters for healthcare access instead of digital app records, which remain linked to birth parents' Singpass accounts. Additionally, foster children are issued medical fee exemption cards, and assigned foster care workers provide ongoing support to address any difficulties encountered by foster parents.
Transcript
19 Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what mechanisms are in place to ensure that foster carers are able to access all appropriate and relevant health information about the children and young people in their care; and (b) what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the birth parents do not impede access to the health information, including information stored on the Health Buddy app.
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 Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) will request the birth parents of children taken into care to provide health-related information, including the child’s current health status and medical history, through a medical declaration form. When necessary, MSF will share this information with foster parents. If parents refuse to provide the information, MSF’s Child Protective Service can exercise powers under the Children and Young Persons Act to obtain and share medical information of the child, if needed.
Since fostering is a temporary arrangement, foster parents do not have direct access to the foster child’s health records via HealthHub or Health Buddy applications, as access remains tied to the birth parents’ Singpass. However, foster parents are issued a letter from MSF that identifies them as caregivers under the Ministry’s fostering scheme. This letter facilitates communication with healthcare professionals and ensures the child’s medical needs are properly addressed.
Mr Speaker: Assoc Prof Razwana Begum.
Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim (Nominated Member): Sir, I appreciate the efforts by the Ministry and the social workers for their continued support of foster parents. However, foster parents do face delays, especially in healthcare treatment, mainly because of the procedural challenges. Sometimes, it is temporary, but sometimes, foster children are in the care of the foster parents for a longer period of time. Under those circumstances, there have been situations where a child's appointment has been cancelled by the natural parents because they have access to the Health Buddy and, because of this delay, sometimes, the child needs to be prepped before he or she goes to the hospital. These are some of the challenges that are happening on the ground.
My question is: can there be more support given via MSF and the Ministry of Health (MOH) in terms of addressing these delays and maybe temporarily preventing the natural parents from having access or cancelling the appointment of their children on Health Hub or Health Buddy? So, that is one suggestion or question.
The other thing is whether it is possible to have a dedicated health liaison person that social workers can work with MOH, because some of these children do need a lot of help and foster parents can be running around. So, greater help and greater assistance will be wonderful between the two Ministries.
Mr Eric Chua: Sir, I thank Assoc Prof Razwana for her supplementary questions. I will take the two questions together.
Every foster child is issued a medical fee exemption card (MFEC) and this covers standard medical or dental treatment charges as well as compulsory immunisations and medications. So, in terms of getting access to these standard treatments and medication, I do not think the natural parents will be an obstacle to the process.
What happens in every foster placement is that there will be a foster care worker that is assigned to support both the foster parents as well as the foster child, and they will have at least one face-to-face contact every two months. Every foster parent can raise any concerns or difficulties that they face during these sessions. What we can do is that we can continually engage foster parents. Every once in a while, I will also get feedback from foster parents as to how we can improve the process to help facilitate their work in taking care of the foster child. We will continue this engagement and make sure that, wherever support is required, we will render them as soon as possible.