SSR Seminar Series: Where Reintegration Is Not An Option: Post-care Housing for Youths Who Age Out of Care in Singapore
Video Recording
Click here to watch the recording:
- This is a physical seminar event.
- Registration slots will be assigned on a first-come, first served basis.
- Please register by 2 September 2025. Successful registrants will be informed from 1 September 2025 via email.
- In the event that you cannot make it after receiving the email confirmation, please let us know as soon as possible via email.
Seminar Details
Around 500 children and adolescents in Singapore are in residential care due to abuse or neglect. While most eventually reintegrate with their families, some are unable to do so and age out into independent living upon turning 21. This transition can be especially daunting for youths juggling education, work, finances, and housing with limited support.
To address this, Melrose Home, a residential care service under Children’s Aid Society (CAS), launched the Thrive21+ pilot in 2022. It features a year of independent‑living preparation followed by a two‑year Housing Programme where youths rent an apartment together with support from social workers.
This study by Quantedge Foundation (Singapore) and CAS evaluated the Thrive21+ Housing Programme. Based on surveys with 10 Melrose Home residents and interviews with CAS staff, the study explored housing challenges youths face when ageing out independently, the impact of the Housing Programme on its participants, and generated insights to inform potential policy enhancements.
Key findings highlight financial constraints and limited access to stable and affordable housing. The Housing Programme fostered life‑skill development across nearly all assessed domains, increased peer support, and provided emotional stability. It recommends creating secure housing pathways, strengthening financial support, and providing earlier, more robust pre-transition support.
Director of Home
Children's Aid Society
Deputy Head
Melrose Home
Children's Aid Society
Head (Research)
Quantedge Foundation
(Singapore)
Cindy is a social worker by training with extensive experience working with low- income families and persons experiencing violence and abuse. Over the years, she has developed and executed programmes that aim to address poverty, violence and abuse in families and the community. Cindy is passionate about issues relating to early childhood trauma, poverty, income inequality and social mobility. She is an active advocate for disadvantaged communities in Singapore, where she contributes commentaries to local publications. She is also passionate about good social work practice and has developed standards framework to guide programmes and services and competency framework to guide the development of Social Workers and Social Service Practitioners.
Ying Si leads the Residential Care and Social Care teams at Melrose Home, where she oversees daily care, structured routines, and behavioural frameworks to provide children and youths with a safe and stable environment. She also guides the development and evaluation of anchor programmes, and works closely with social workers and caseworkers to coordinate therapeutic interventions and case management. With deep experience in child protection, Ying Si has supported children and families through safety planning, crisis intervention, and long-term care coordination. She is also committed to supporting care leavers as they transition into independence or reintegrate with their families and communities. Prior to Children’s Aid Society, Ying Si spent three years in medical social work and five years with the Child Protective Service.
Ning Qian is Head, Research at Quantedge Foundation Singapore (QFS), where she oversees research, insights, and impact evaluations for a range of social issues. Prior to QFS, she was at the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), and led AWARE's research and advocacy efforts in areas such as combatting gender-based violence and discrimination and protecting the rights of vulnerable women. Ning Qian obtained both her Bachelors and Masters degrees from the National University of Singapore, the latter as a Li Ka Shing Foundation Scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Associate Professor
Department of Social Work,
Co-Director
Social Service Research Centre
National University of Singapore
Dr. Jungup Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Co-Director of Social Service Research Centre at the National University of Singapore. Her research seeks to refine the understanding of how adverse childhood events relate to subsequent behavioural and mental health outcomes for children and adolescents. Specifically, Dr. Lee’s research focuses on identifying multi-level risk and protective factors (e.g., family, peer, school, and community levels) that shape various patterns of externalizing and internalizing behaviours to facilitate the development of more effective intervention strategies for social workers providing services to children, adolescents, and young adults. Her research interests include cyberbullying, school violence and safety, child maltreatment, online harassment, technology-facilitated sexual misconduct, juvenile justice, and youth mental health and digital well-being.