Caregiving boundary guidelines not meant to be prescriptive for all

They are for professionals in child protection system working with at-risk families: Masagos

- Theresa Tan

The guidelines spelling out appropriate caregiving boundaries between parents and their children are not rules to be enforced or prescriptive across all families, said Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli.

The Practitioners' Resource Guide on Guidelines on Healthy Family Boundaries, which was developed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), serves as general principles to guide professionals working with families in diverse situations, he said in a written parliamentary reply released on Jan 7.

He said: "MSF recognises that every family is unique, and some may face special circumstances."

Mr Masagos was responding to parliamentary questions on the new guidelines, which detail appropriate boundaries in daily caregiving between parents and children in areas such as expressing affection, privacy and toileting.

For example, the guidelines state that it is inappropriate for parents to bathe their child of the opposite gender regularly when they can do so independently, and that it is inappropriate to force their child to show physical affection to someone they are uncomfortable with.

Ms Cheryl Chan (East Coast GRC) asked what social trends prompted the MSF to come up with the guidelines, and how families with financial challenges and living in "tight spaces", will be able to follow the guidelines.