Number of foster parents has more than doubled in past decade

MSF seeks to recruit more of them as kids in family-based care fare better in long run

- Theresa Tan

The number of families providing temporary care to children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected has more than doubled in the past decade, latest figures show.

There were 614 foster families in 2023, up from 243 in 2013.

The number of children placed in foster care grew from 309 in 2013 to 540 in 2023.

These figures were reported in the inaugural Domestic Violence Trends Report released by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in September 2024.

The ministry wants to place more of such children in need in foster care and kinship care, which is being under the care of relatives.

Both care arrangements are known collectively as family-based care.

This is because children in family-based care showed "better outcomes" in the long run, compared with children who were placed in residential care, such as a children's home.

In 2023, 66 per cent of children who needed to be looked after outside their own homes were placed in family-based care, up from 41 per cent in 2013.

In a written parliamentary reply on Feb 18, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli highlighted the efforts by MSF to recruit more foster parents, such as working with various organisations to raise awareness of fostering.

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, had asked what the MSF was doing to encourage more people to sign up as foster parents and the challenges preventing them from doing so.