Jamiyah Children's Home shuts after 28 years
Jamiyah Children's Home (Darul Ma'wa) shut its doors on Tuesday (Dec 14) after 28 years of sheltering children from disadvantaged families, such as orphans and children who are abused or neglected.
In a media statement, it said "it needed to adapt its policies and operations as the community needs and the wider national social landscape change".
It added: "By optimising resources that were thus far used to manage the Children's Home, Jamiyah will now be able to reach out and extend help to more children with families, including orphans and children of single parents in the community.
"Hence, the community could expect to see more effective social assistance programmes and educational support that will benefit not only the needy children but their families too."
The Jamiyah Children's Home, located in Guillemard Crescent, was run by social service agency Jamiyah Singapore, which also runs a kindergarten, student care centres and a nursing home, among its services and programmes.
The Jamiyah Children's Home started operations in 1993 and could house up to 100 children between six and 18 years old, according to past media reports.
Jamiyah Singapore declined to reply to The Straits Times about the home's closure.
A Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) spokesman told ST that the ministry worked closely with the home to ensure that the care of children living there "remains a priority during the transition period".
And depending on their circumstances, all the children have either been reunited with their families or sent to other voluntary children's homes.
The MSF spokesman said: "Jamiyah Singapore has decided to close the Jamiyah Children's Home to focus on addressing other community needs.
"The MSF is supportive of Jamiyah Singapore's direction, which is in line with larger changes in the out-of-home care sector, where more children requiring out-of-home care are being placed in foster families."
Out-of-home care refers to the care provided to children and young persons who have been removed from their own homes due to safety reasons. The two main options for out-of-home care are the child being placed in the care of foster parents, or being placed in residential care, like a children and young persons home.
With the closure of the Jamiyah Children's Home, there are now 19 children and young persons homes providing residential care.
They include Boys Town, Pertapis Children's Home and the Sunbeam Place @ Children's Society.
The youngsters are living in these homes because they may be neglected or abused by their family members, come from dysfunctional families and need shelter, or they got into trouble with the law.
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