http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_419119.html
More to protect aged parents
By April Chong
THE past year has seen 172 elderly parents apply to the Tribunal for Maintenance of Parents seeking financial support from recalcitrant children - almost double the average number of applications in previous years.
To counter what Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan described as a 'significant increase' and a cause for concern, his ministry will be rolling out new plans.
He was responding to calls made by MPs on Wednesday to do more for elderly parents who do not get support from children who are financially able to do so.
Dr Balakrishnan - pointing to children who abdicated responsibilities and forced parents to turn to the state or charitable organisations - said this was unacceptable and unfair to the parents, charitable groups and taxpayers.
His ministry's plans include making it harder for children to evade their duties. A third of the 75 elderly parents who turn to community development councils for help every month are unable to give contact details of their children. This makes it difficult to process cases.
The ministry intends to make it easier to get information from across agencies so that cases can be handled efficiently.
The role of the Commissioner for the Maintenance of Parents - who looks after the interests of those without support from children - will expand. The Commissioner, who can already act on behalf of an elderly parent, will do more active case monitoring, mediation and conciliation, and ensure that needy parents get prompt assistance.
More timely and comprehensive help can also be expected, including being referred to the Tribunal for Maintenance of Parents even if they do not yet plan to take legal action. But at least the options available will be made known to them.
Such measures aside, Dr Balakrishnan said moral values should be inculcated from the start, with parents as role models: 'Our children will treat us the way they watch the way we treat our own parents. So in a sense, it comes round.'
In the meantime, the ministry will study if the Maintenance of Parents Act needs to be amended. The Act can be used to compel children to provide for their parents if they are able to.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times
More to protect aged parents
By April Chong
THE past year has seen 172 elderly parents apply to the Tribunal for Maintenance of Parents seeking financial support from recalcitrant children - almost double the average number of applications in previous years.
To counter what Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan described as a 'significant increase' and a cause for concern, his ministry will be rolling out new plans.
He was responding to calls made by MPs on Wednesday to do more for elderly parents who do not get support from children who are financially able to do so.
Dr Balakrishnan - pointing to children who abdicated responsibilities and forced parents to turn to the state or charitable organisations - said this was unacceptable and unfair to the parents, charitable groups and taxpayers.
His ministry's plans include making it harder for children to evade their duties. A third of the 75 elderly parents who turn to community development councils for help every month are unable to give contact details of their children. This makes it difficult to process cases.
The ministry intends to make it easier to get information from across agencies so that cases can be handled efficiently.
The role of the Commissioner for the Maintenance of Parents - who looks after the interests of those without support from children - will expand. The Commissioner, who can already act on behalf of an elderly parent, will do more active case monitoring, mediation and conciliation, and ensure that needy parents get prompt assistance.
More timely and comprehensive help can also be expected, including being referred to the Tribunal for Maintenance of Parents even if they do not yet plan to take legal action. But at least the options available will be made known to them.
Such measures aside, Dr Balakrishnan said moral values should be inculcated from the start, with parents as role models: 'Our children will treat us the way they watch the way we treat our own parents. So in a sense, it comes round.'
In the meantime, the ministry will study if the Maintenance of Parents Act needs to be amended. The Act can be used to compel children to provide for their parents if they are able to.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times
