SINGAPORE: There was one small but significant shift in the new SG Child Support Package unveiled at this year’s National Day Rally. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that every Singaporean child will receive almost $70,000 in direct financial support by the time they turn 17.

This includes children born to unmarried parents, who until now have been excluded from the Baby Bonus cash gift. As recently as February this year, the government explained in a parliamentary reply that this benefit was not extended to single unwed parents because it was “designed to encourage parenthood within marriage”.

In fact, such children were previously excluded from Child Development Account (CDA) benefits as well. It was only from September 2016 that children born to unwed parents qualified for government co-matching of their CDA contributions and the one-off First Step Grant (then S$3,000), though they would still be excluded from the Baby Bonus cash gift. 

The latest change is welcome for single parents. But there is another significance for all Singaporeans: It suggests an evolution in Singapore’s social compact.

A GRADUAL SHIFT

The new SG Child Support Package represents the latest step in a broader policy evolution that has gradually extended social benefits to single parents. 

There has been a “longstanding tension between the objective of promoting parenthood in the context of marriage (as a social norm the government wishes to uphold) and meeting the needs of single parents, especially those who are lower income,” as I noted in my book Refreshing The Singapore System: Recalibrating Socio-Economic Policy For The 21st Century (2021).

In 2013, paid childcare leave was extended to working single parents. From 2017,