multiple breaches across agencies<\/span><\/a>, including an officer from the Child Protective Service (CPS) \u2013 now known as the PSV \u2013 who failed to log a call by Megan\u2019s pre-school seeking help and police officers not following processes.<\/p>\nNone of the agencies were also able to piece together the various calls or information provided to form a fuller picture of the danger that Megan was in until it was too late.<\/p>\n
SAFER is designed to address this gap.<\/p>\n
For a start, the unit will include information from the Central Narcotics Bureau, the police and MSF agencies, such as case records from the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline (NAVH) and pre-school data from the Early Childhood Development Agency, on families with children below seven where there are child protection concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The unit is currently manned by a \u201chandful\u201d of staff with experience in managing abuse cases.<\/p>\n
The MSF spokesperson said it would analyse data relevant to assessing a child\u2019s safety and well-being such as pre-school attendance records, pre-school withdrawals, offences involving a child as a victim of harm, and drug and sexual offences.<\/p>\n
Currently, SAFER uses a risk algorithm based on data analytics to combine information from available datasets, including any risk events or recent stressors, to assess the family\u2019s potential needs and how they can be supported, the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n
Any potential child protection concern is reviewed by trained professionals, who check against available case facts, consult existing case managers, and apply professional judgment before escalating the concern.<\/p>\n
Social workers interviewed by The Straits Times say the new unit gives social service and child protection staff a better idea of what is happening in the family and the risk of harm to the child, so that they can reassess cases in the light of new developments.<\/p>\n
Connecting these disparate pieces of information is key as the family may not reveal or may even lie about what is going on at home, they said.<\/p>\n
For example, a parent may have been arrested for drug offences, but family members keep mum about this, though drug addiction poses safety concerns for a child.<\/p>\n
One case SAFER flagged illustrates how the system works.<\/p>\n
A family, which has more than three children, including two who were not attending pre-school regularly, had a history of neglect and had previously come under PSV\u2019s watch. Neglect is when a parent fails to provide the child with the basic necessities or adequate supervision.<\/p>\n
Both parents were arrested for drug offences, but did not disclose this to the staff from the family service centre (FSC) who visited the home in July.<\/p>\n
The case worker also did not observe any drug-related concerns, or concerns over the children\u2019s safety during their interactions. SAFER, however, was alerted to the parents\u2019 arrest and this prompted PSV to reassess the case. \u00a0<\/p>\n
PSV is supporting the family and has put in place appropriate intervention and plans to keep the children, who are still cared for by family members, safe.<\/p>\n
The MSF spokesperson said it hopes to expand SAFER to include information from more government agencies in time to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Addressing the media last week at the MSF building at Thompson Road ahead of the official launch of SAFER, Senior Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said: \u201cThe sooner concerns are identified and acted on, the better the chances of keeping our children safe and supporting families…<\/p>\n
\u201cWith SAFER, while we cannot prevent every future instance of abuse, it will certainly reinforce our ability to identify high-risk cases and provide more timely support where needed.\u201d<\/p>\n