Allowing Foster Parents to Tap Foster Children's Child Development Accounts to Pay for Childcare Fees

Ms Carrie Tan asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether foster parents can tap on the Child Development Account of their foster children to pay for their childcare fees; (b) if not, what is the rationale for not allowing this; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider adjusting the childcare fees for foster children to the more subsidised rate that the foster children's birth parents would have paid based on the birth parents' income tier.

Foster parents receive the monthly fostering allowance ranging from $1,100 to $1,500, which is sized to cover childcare and other out-of-pocket expenses related to caring for their foster child. The Ministry of Social and Family Development also supports foster parents by enrolling the foster child in an Anchor Operator or Partner Operator childcare centre, where foster parents are charged a flat monthly rate of $200 and $150 for full-day and half-day childcare respectively. As such, foster parents do not need to tap into the child's Child Development Account (CDA) funds for this purpose. It is better to retain the CDA funds with the birth parents to support child-raising costs, if and when the child is returned home.