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• Courts to safeguard children in divorce

©Today Online, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Loh Chee Kong

Chief Justice Chan spells out changes to ease family pain

A PUDDLE of water.

That was the picture a boy — whose parents were fighting bitterly for custody — drew to describe himself, recalled Ms Sophia Ang, director of the Family and Juvenile Justice Court.

The boy told her: "It's unhappy being a puddle of water. I will evaporate into the sky and become a cloud."

Said Ms Ang: "So, I asked him: Are you happy as a cloud? He said, 'No, the clouds are all separated.'"

Such stories of unhappy children caught in the middle of acrimonious divorce proceedings are becoming a familiar dilemma for family counsellors. Over the last two decades, the number of divorce applications has more than doubled from 2,160 in 1983 to 5,937 last year. Almost half of the cases involved children below 18 years.

This trend of "vulnerable children embroiled in their parents' legal and relational conflicts" has Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong concerned.

On Friday, CJ Chan said that the welfare of children — including greater protection for children from dysfunctional parents — will take centrestage in the Subordinate Courts' work for the year ahead.

This will be done with the establishment of two new courts. The first is the Family Child Court, which will sit on custody disputes and matrimonial conflicts involving children. The second is the Children Care Court, which will deal with Child Protection Orders (CPO) and Beyond Parental Control (BPC) cases.

Said CJ Chan: "We need to recognise the special nature of a child's needs. In many cases, the child is used by the parents as a bargaining chip to settle other issues."

The Family Child Court will be rolled out by June and is part of a less adversarial model that has been in practice in countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

Currently, parents seeking divorce try to outdo each other in custody disputes by trying to convince the judge that they would make a better parent than their erstwhile spouse — what family lawyers describe as "mudslinging".

While a judge can order a report from a family counsellor to assess the needs of the children, the current outcome relies heavily on skilfully-prepared evidence. This evidence can be further examined by either party while the judge plays a "passive role", noted CJ Chan.

Under the new regime, counsellors will not only be empowered to intervene earlier, they will also play a greater role in conveying the child's views and wishes to the Court.

Every case will have a dedicated team of judge, deputy registrar and counsellor, who will see the case through till judgement. All parties will be brought together at a "specially designed table, which encourages face-to-face communications", according to a Subordinate Courts fact sheet.

Therefore, with all parties more involved in the process, parties will more likely comply with the judge's decision.

Family and matrimonial lawyers lauded the new process, but some expressed concern as to whether the courts would have the resources to cope, in light of the rising divorce rates.

Said Harry Elias' Foo Siew Fong: "It's a more expedient process and addresses the issue of custody and access very quickly, rather than giving parties the opportunity to file affidavits and engage in mudslinging against one another."

However, Ms Ellen Lee, Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC and a consultant at Ramdas and Wong, was concerned about whether the authorities have the means to deal with the rising number of divorce cases, including having enough "trained and experienced" social workers to deal with "arrogant parents who do not want to listen to third parties".

Sub Courts to do more for children

The Sub Courts will channel more resources towards the protection of abused children, as the number of children brought before the Juvenile Court for Child Protection Orders has spiked dramatically in the last six years.

Child Protection Orders and Beyond Parental Control cases are all heard together with juvenile arrest cases in the Juvenile Court.

By Thursday, such cases will be heard in the newly-formed Children Care Court. This new court will have an in-house psychology and counselling clinic. It will work closely with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

Noting how children in these cases "are among the most vulnerable in our society", CJ Chan said: "The children and their parents will be subject to psychological and social investigation by MCYS' Child Protection Services. The court will study their reports carefully with its in-house psychologist or social workers."

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