1 The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) announced today the appointment of 10 Parenting Support Providers (PSP) to help equip all parents with parenting skills in a more holistic manner. This is in response to increasing demand from parents who want to pick up new skills to help strengthen their relationships with their children.
2 Since 2014, MSF has partnered schools to offer two evidence-based programmes free of charge– Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) and Signposts. The number of schools offering these programmes has grown from 20 to 295 today. Close to 20,000 parents have attended these programmes.
3 Speaking to some 350 participants at this year’s Asian Family Conference (AFC) 2019, held on 13 November 2019 at Mandarin Orchard Singapore, Minister for Social and Family Development, Desmond Lee said, “As parents, we want the best for our children. Robust evaluation of parenting programmes we have conducted shows positive child outcomes. Parents also feel happier, become more confident, and develop stronger relationships with their children. I would like to encourage more parents to sign up for these programmes through their children’s schools. ”
4 The appointment of the 10 PSPs is an extension of MSF’s existing efforts to expand and enhance the parenting support provided to parents. The 10 PSPs are one-stop service providers that will work closely with schools in their allocated regions to deliver evidence-based parenting programmes to more parents. The PSPs also provide follow-on counselling support to parents who need it, as part of efforts to support parents more holistically. Please refer to Annex A for more information on Triple P and Signposts and Annex B for details on the PSPs.
5 The theme for this year’s biennial AFC conference focused on “Parenting for Stronger Families Challenges and Opportunities”, and featured keynote presentations by the founder of Triple P, Professor Matthew Sanders, and the Chairman of the Family Council of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR, Professor Daniel Shek.
6 The one-day conference was attended by participants from Singapore and the region, comprising leaders and partners from various non-profit organisations and social service agencies, family life educators, researchers, school educators, public service officers.
ISSUED BY MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT
13 NOVEMBER 2019
ANNEX B - FACTSHEET ON PARENTING SUPPORT PROVIDERS (PSPS)
ANNEX C - HIGHLIGHTS OF ASIAN FAMILY CONFERENCE 2019 (AFC 2019)