Co-parenting after divorce: More seeking support, with children a priority

Getting help to ensure kids are not hurt amid divorce process is important: Experts

- Syarafana Shafeeq

More people are seeking support after going through a divorce, say social workers, who note that coparenting is one of the main issues that arise from marital splits.

In 2023, there were 6,000 people, either divorced or going through a divorce, who received support at 10 specialised family service centres and a divorce support specialist agency in Singapore, said the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in response to queries.

The ministry did not provide numbers for other years before that.

One of the centres is run by Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities (THKMC), which saw an average increase of 20 per cent in cases where co-parenting support was sought from 2019 to 2023.

Methodist Welfare Services (MWS), which runs a similar centre in Buangkok, said that it served 377 clients under its divorce support programmes between April 2023 and March 2024. This is a 32.7 per cent increase from 284 clients between July 2022 and March 2023.

The numbers do not include clients who are receiving counselling support for their divorce, said the head of MWS' FAM@FSC Yeow Ming Zhen.

The specialised family service centres are run by social service agencies, and are formally known as Strengthening Families Programme@Family Service Centres, or FAM@FSCs.

A key divorce support programme available at FAM@FSCs is the mandatory co-parenting programme, which couples in civil marriages with children under 21 years are required to attend before filing for divorce.

It aims to help parents make informed decisions that prioritise their children's well-being and practise cooperative co-parenting, MSF said.

Social service agencies that run FAM@FSCs told The Straits Times that co-parenting is a big concern for those who go to the centres for divorce support.