Response to Study on Long-term Economic and Social Costs of Adverse Childhood Experiences

30 Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what is the Ministry's response to the findings of a recent study by the Institute of Mental Health and KK Women's and Children's Hospital on the long-term economic and social costs of adverse childhood experiences.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Eric Chua) (for the Minister for Social and Family Development): Mr Speaker, the Institute of Mental Health and KK Women's and Children's Hospital conducted a study to establish a baseline of the economic and social cost of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Singapore. The study found that the impact of such events on individuals with ACEs was higher health and productivity costs, compared to individuals with no ACE exposure.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) agrees that there is a cost to every ACE. Many ACEs and their detrimental effects, however, can be prevented or at least mitigated.

Families form the bedrock of our society and are the first line of support for many of us. This is why MSF has been strengthening our upstream interventions to foster strong and resilient family relationships and equip families to create a safe and nurturing environment for our children. A 2023 MSF survey on families found that 86% of Singaporeans reported that they have a close-knit family. The same survey found that 85.9% of families reported moderate to high family resilience scores, which means that these families would generally be able to recover from challenges together as a family unit.

For a small group of individuals who have been through more severe or multiple ACEs, the efforts of the family alone may not be enough. This is where the community and the Government would need to step in to support them. I note that the Member has also filed two other related questions, Question Nos 31 and 32 on today's Order Paper on the study, and the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education will be covering the interventions to support persons affected by ACE.

Ultimately, our efforts aim to promote strong and stable families so that as far as possible, we can prevent ACEs and to mitigate their effects when they occur.

Mr Speaker: Assoc Prof Razwana Begum.

Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim (Nominated Member): I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary and the Ministry for its intervention in addressing ACEs. I would like to ask, based on the long-term economic impact of ACE, specifically on social services expenditure, how is the Ministry looking at this particular aspect to guide future policy intervention?

Additionally, how are social workers and families being informed and equipped to recognise and address ACE early and what efforts are being made to ensure they have access to necessary resources and support? For instance, would the Ministry consider developing public awareness campaigns and rolling out trauma-informed care across all social service agencies?

Mr Eric Chua: Mr Speaker, I thank Assoc Prof Razwana for her supplementary questions. I think the principle is that practice must be informed by research.

And in the study, there were some 11 forms of ACEs that were identified. Let me highlight some archetypes for which MSF is working with ground organisations to address some of these concerns. For children who have experienced abuse or neglect, MSF works with community partners and agencies to provide evidence-based trauma interventions to address the trauma as well as other behavioural and emotional needs to help them develop healthy coping mechanisms. In terms of children who have lived with family members who are or were incarcerated, MSF works with the Singapore Prison Services on processes where social service touch points, for instance, the family service centres will be notified to provide support to family members of inmates or ex-offenders.

For children whose parents are separating or divorcing, MSF has also partnered social service agencies to support these children and their parents, and this include the mandatory co-parenting programme, which helps parents make informed decisions that prioritise their child's well-being as well as to practise cooperative parenting. There are also other programmes to help children cope with their parents' divorce, such as the Children of Divorce Intervention Programme and the Children-in-Between Programme.

So, these are the some of the archetypes that I have mentioned for which the Ministry is working closely with partners on the ground and as and when we can, we will have research inform some of the interventions that we are making and to assess the intervention's effectiveness on the ground as well.