Debated in Parliament on 5 Oct 2021.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether the Ministry is studying the effectiveness of "community work" as defined in the Family Service Centre Code of Social Work Practice; and (b) whether the Ministry is considering providing more funding to family service centres to do community work.
Family Service Centres (FSCs) partner individuals and families to address their social needs. FSC social workers carry out social work intervention through case work, group work and community work.
Community work involves FSCs tapping on local community strengths and networks to build the community, promote individual and community’s well-being, as well as support individuals and families in need.
Community work can range from outreach activities and assessment of community needs and assets, to community projects such as food distribution for low-income families, in collaboration with other agencies and partners. One example is the FSCs’ partnership with the SG Cares Community Network to conduct outreach to public rental households during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
In view of the diversity of community needs, FSCs have the flexibility to determine the type and nature of community work required based on the needs of their local community. Given the variation of practices, MSF does not currently use a standardised rubric to evaluate the effectiveness of community work.
That said, MSF convened a workgroup in 2019 comprising social work professionals from the FSCs and academia to develop an FSC-Code of Social Work Practice (CSWP) Community Work practice guide. This guide further elaborates on how to operationalise and evaluate community work within an FSC setting and seeks to document best practices in community work. MSF intends to roll out this practice guide in 2022. After the guide is rolled out, MSF intends to work with FSCs to review the impact and effectiveness of their various community work projects.
FSCs are funded for case work, group work and community work, and have the flexibility to internally reallocate resources amongst these interventions according to their needs. The resourcing required for specific community work projects varies, given the diverse nature of the assessed needs and projects. FSCs also tap on community partnerships and resources to deliver community work projects. MSF conducts regular reviews of funding to FSCs to ensure they have the resources they need to carry out their work. Over and above the funded community work services, FSCs have also been able to contribute to areas of community needs through their parent organisations’ services and cooperation with other community partners and member organisations of the National Council of Social Service.
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