Singapore Children's Society
Encyclopedia
The Singapore Children's Society (abbrev
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...

: SCS; Chinese: 新加坡儿童社会) is a charitable organisation which looks after the welfare of children. It is committed to protect the physical, emotional and mental well-being of disadvantaged children.

History

The SCS was founded on 17 April 1952 by a group of civic-minded citizens. The group started with a convalescent home
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

 for malnourished
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....

 children in Changi
Changi
Changi is an area at the eastern end of Singapore. It is now the site of Singapore Changi Airport/Changi Air Base, Changi Naval Base and is also home to Changi Prison, site of the former Japanese Prisoner of War Camp during World War II which held Allied prisoners captured in Singapore and Malaysia...

 that was subsequently gazetted as a Place of Safety in 1988. It was also the pioneer voluntary welfare organisation to provide opportunities for training of social work undergraduates from the then University of Malaya
University of Malaya
The University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...

.

Founding of the Singapore Association for Retarded Children

During the 1960s, the SCS founded the Singapore Association for Retarded Children. That same year, the Society also opened the Social Work Service office in Toa Payoh
Toa Payoh
Toa Payoh is a district located in the Central Region of Singapore. It commonly refers to the Housing and Development Board housing estate of Toa Payoh New Town, one of the earliest satellite public housing estates in Singapore....

.

More programmes

Recognising a social trend towards dual income families, the SCS launched a pilot project that reached out to latchkey children in 1979. Then in 1982 and again in 1984, the United Nations Association of Singapore
United Nations Association of Singapore
The United Nations Association of Singapore was established as a non-governmental organization in 1969 in Singapore. As a voluntary organization, its membership is open to anyone who supports the United Nations and its charter obligations.-Aims:...

 awarded the SCS the "Most Outstanding Civic Organisation" Gold Award.

The year 1984 also saw the SCS launch Tinkle Friend, a hotline
Hotline
In telecommunication, a hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook...

 dedicated to children aged between 7 to 12 for them to voice out their problems. Four years later, in 1988, the Society initiated and developed voluntary services for the prevention of child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

. The Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Standing Committee was formed to provide guidance and direction for the work undertaken.

In the 1990s, a series of developments took place that led to the opening of a Family Service Centre and the establishment of a Research Grant for Social Work.
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