Under what circumstances will a parent be given supervised access to his/ her child in a supervised access centre Singapore?
Case of Neo Mui Liang- Access at Supervised Access Centre Singapore
Neo Mui Liang, 45, was supposed to have supervised access to her 4-year-old child every Friday.
On 24 February 2017, Neo received a call from the Social Service Office @ Taman Jurong that her supervised access at the supervised access centre Singapore had been cancelled because of safety concerns. Neo allegedly had a dispute with her boyfriend- the boy’s father- earlier and she was emotionally unstable.
The child had been placed under the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s custody in foster care since he was born in October 2016 as Neo was assessed to be incapable of caring for the child.
On that fateful day, Neo arrived at the Social Service Office at about 12pm, holding a knife with a 7cm blade. Neo approached the counter staff and demanded to speak to the female social worker in charge of her case. When Neo saw the victim, she accosted her and held the chopper to her neck. The victim broke free and disarmed Neo. Other staff then restrained Neo until the police arrived.
Mr Genesis Shen, Neo’s lawyer, noted that Neo was experiencing “great emotional trauma during the times that she was not permitted to see her son”.
In the end, the Court sentenced the woman to 6 months’ imprisonment.
See: Faris Mokhtar, “Six months’ jail for woman who threatened social worker with chopper”, Today, 30 May 2017
When practical, the Family Justice Courts allow unsupervised access. Parents exercising unsupervised access are free to spend time with their children in whatever way they wish. However, in some cases, where a parent deemed to be incapable of caring for their children during the access hours, or when children refuses to spend time alone with the parent, supervised access may be given.
Depending on the specific facts of the case, supervised access may take place in a supervised access centre Singapore.
Contact us today if you wish to understand more about supervised access Singapore.
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