Officials of the Social Welfare Bureau hold a press conference on the experimental babysitting scheme
The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS)’s pilot program aimed at providing community-based babysitting services will end next month after a one year trial period, as the authorities have failed to identify multiple reasons to continue the program.
Since last July, the program has received a total of 69 applications whereas only 36 of them were accepted. The IAS explained in a press conference yesterday that the service is only available to young children who didn’t secure a nursery seat and their working parents were unable to find anyone to look after them in the daytime.
“We started this pilot program because there has been a gap between society’s demand for child- care and the supply of nurseries in recent years, and that the public is concerned over the lack of support to dual-career families in caretaking. Its basic goal was to build a social service safety net for those families in need by assisting them with community nannies,” said the head of the IAS’s Children and Youth Service Division, Ms Lao Kit Im.
Jointly operated through three organizations namely the Caritas Macau, the Women’s General Association of Macau, and the General Union of the Neighborhood Associations (UGAMM, known as Kai Fong), the program granted a fund of MOP1 million to each group for providing the service. Currently, only three of the 36 qualified applicants are still using the service, as the rest have either found an alternative or no longer need it.
“The demand to continue it has proven to be quite limited. In fact, we’ve found parents expect more assistance in nurturing and fostering rather than in caretaking,” stressed the official. “However, we wouldn’t gain an insight into society’s actual needs without this actual experience.”
Ms Lao further explained the pilot program was mainly a transitional option, which is similar to the function of some temporary daycare services. “Taking all aspects into consideration, we’ve decided not to renew the pilot program. (…) On the other hand, we will expand the temporary daycare service coverage to more districts,” she added.
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