Customised Assessment Referral Tool (CART)
Syariah Court
Singapore

The Problem

Apart from adjudicating Muslim divorces, Syariah Court’s mission is to save marriages. Counselling has always been part of Syariah Court’s (SYC) divorce procedure since 1955. In 2004, the Marriage Counselling Programme was developed in collaboration with several secular and Muslim voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) with the aim to facilitate divorcing couples’ access to national resources and shorten the waiting time for first counselling appointment from 4 months to 2 months. With access to specific resources at the community level, the impact of marital crisis on such couples and their young dependents would be minimised. The MCP was also implemented to provide couples with a neutral and less threatening platform to discuss their marital concerns amicably. In this way, couples would only approach Syariah Court for divorce application as a last resort after seeking support at the community level as compared to the pre MCP period where couples would apply for divorce at SYC before seeking help. From its date of inception till June 2011, 16,473 couples were referred to MCP and an average of 42% (yearly) did not proceed with divorce eventually.

To complement MCP and further increase the reconciliation rates, the Customised Assessment Referral Tool (CART) which is an evidence-based approach was developed and piloted on 3 May 2010 for a period of 1 year in collaboration with 3 of the current MCP VWOs. With the implementation of CART, the divorce/counselling registration forms had been enhanced to capture more of the divorcing couples’ demographic profile and information on their marital issues. The revised form also includes a divorce risk assessment which generates risk scores. Such information facilitates further SYC’s referrals to the participating pilot agencies by allowing a better match between the information gathered and the VWOs’ niche area. In addition, with more information captured, the VWOs are in a better position to plan/customise their intervention strategies to reach favourable outcomes.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Before the implementation of CART, reconciliation averaged 42% (annually). A review of CART was conducted in October 2011, slightly more than a year after its pilot period. Based on available sample size of closed cases, a comparison of the reconciliation rates before and after the implementation of CART revealed that reconciliation rates increased by 18 percentage points. This suggests that CART can achieve its primary aim of increasing the chances of reconciliation for divorcing couples.

In addition, the 3 pilot VWOs also shared that the information captured in the revised registration form had greatly assisted them to customise their intervention with the divorcing couples.

Through CART, SYC has also managed to identify service gaps to take service standards and outcomes to a higher level. For example, with the information captured, both SYC and the VWOs are able to note the volume of high, medium or low risks cases when allocating its resources. Couples who have been identified as high risk for instance, would require more resources to minimise the impact of divorce/marital issues on them or their young dependents, thus ensuring that families remain stable despite the final outcome.

Through CART, SYC is also able to use it as a platform to work on the paramount interest of young dependents in divorce cases. More information can be gathered to assess the suitability of a joint or sole custody and divorcing couples are also able to tap on the expertise of the marriage counsellors on children’s issues before commencing divorce proceedings.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
CART is the brainchild of SYC and had thus, developed its fundamental concept. To further develop the concept, SYC had engaged the services of Nexus Link Private Limited, a research company to develop the risk scores and draft the enhanced registration forms to capture the necessary information to develop sound risk scores.

SYC had also engaged a local renowned Family Therapist, Mr Benny Bong to provide the necessary inputs and develop a Practice Guide to facilitate the marriage counsellors’ intervention strategies. To date, SYC has 16 VWOs involved in the implementation of CART after the completion of its pilot in mid 2011.

SYC continues to regulate CART by providing the necessary training for the marriage counsellors by engaging relevant trainers in the areas of marital counselling/family therapy and organising regular sessions with the counsellors to discuss pressing issues and further identify gaps in an effort to continuously enhance CART.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The primary objective of CART is to increase the chances of reconciliation. SYC developed the concept of CART as a follow-up to an earlier study on the Marriage Counselling Programme. The study revealed that the profile of clients, their family/support network and marital issues had an impact on the ultimate outcome of their decision to divorce or reconcile. To further develop the CART concept, SYC engaged a research consultant namely Nexus Link Private Limited (NLPL). NLPL proceeded to set up a Monte Carlo Simulation based on the incidences of main marital problems from SYC’s database of 2006 – 2008 cases (50,000 cases). Scoring rules were developed through the Monte Carlo simulation. The shape of the Monte Carlo frequency distribution is uni-modal and follows the shape of a bell curve. This suggests that the rules are accurately formulated, resulting in an effective Risk score.

With the frequency distribution, cases were able to be classified into different risk groups. For example, cases that score less than 160 would be classified as Low Risk for divorce. Cases that score between 160 and 230 are considered as Moderate Risk while those with a score of more than 230 are classified as High Risk. Based on the identified risk profiles, cases can be sent for specific intervention in the Marriage Counselling Programme modules.

With the development of the scoring rules through the Monte Carlo Simulation, SYC in collaboration with NLPL proceeded to enhance SYC’s registration forms to include and capture necessary information to facilitate the development of risk scores. SYC also engaged a renowned Family Therapist, Mr Benny Bong to provide inputs and develop a Practice Guide to facilitate the marriage counsellors’ intervention strategies.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
SYC conducted a study of the Marriage Counselling Programme (MCP) from 16 February to 6 March 2009 with the aim of evaluating its outcomes and identifying service gaps. Based on the outcomes of the study, CART was further developed in collaboration with NLPL. With the firming up of CART, SYC proceeded to identify 3 MCP agencies to pilot CART. Following this, SYC’s registration form was enhanced accordingly to facilitate the capturing of relevant information and tested on the 3 pilot agencies for further comments. At this juncture, SYC had concurrently worked with a renowed Family Therapist to develop a practice guide to assist the pilot agencies in implementing CART. Once the registration form and practice guide had been finalised, SYC proceeded to train the 3 pilot agencies before CART was piloted on 3 May 2010.

In early May 2011, the registration forms were made accessible to the public via SYC’s website.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
One of the main challenges was the development of the on-line referrals and update system which requires all the participating agencies to update on the case outcomes via a shared online system. As in any new system, technical glitches and bugs surfaced and the issues have to be resolved before the online system can be commissioned. With the dedication of SYC counselling unit team and MCYS IT team determined to resolve the technical problems, the online system was successfully commissioned.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
SYC had engaged the services of Nexus Link Private Limited, a research company to develop the risk scores and draft the enhanced registration forms to capture the necessary information to develop sound risk scores. The expert knowledge of the research company ensured the credibility and relevance of CART.

SYC also worked closely with ITD to launch and enhance the Online referral and updating system which speeds up referrals and follow-up action. The online system has also minimised the use of manual work and thus, increased productivity.

In addition, SYC tapped on the expertise of the counsellors/social workers to obtain the necessary inputs and feedback for the development of CART since such resource persons are able to represent the needs of the clientele groups. To date, SYC has 16 VWOs involved in the implementation of CART.

SYC had also engaged a local renowned Family Therapist, Mr Benny Bong to provide the necessary inputs and develop a Practice Guide to facilitate the marriage counsellors’ intervention strategies. SYC also worked with other experts in the field of Family therapy to provide regular seminars/workshops as part of enhancing partners’ capability and capacity in handling SYC’s referrals.

Funding for CART comes from the Ministry annually at a budget of approximately $350,000. Each year, an average of 3000 cases is referred to partners.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
CART is part of the marriage counselling tool that receives an annual funding from the Ministry. In terms of knowledge transfer, CART can be imparted to any voluntary welfare organisation or statutory board that is keen to conduct marriage counselling. However a feasibility study will need to be conducted to assess the suitability of transferring specific roles/responsibilities to such an agency. This is only possible if the identified agency is equipped with the relevant capacity and capability.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The pilot implementation of CART which was reviewed in October 2011 showed, in comparison of the reconciliation rates, that it increased by 18 percentage points. Although the majority of the sample cases have yet to be closed, preliminary study suggests that CART can achieve its primary aim of increasing the chance of reconciliation for the divorcing couples.

Moreover, the 3 pilot MCP partners shared that the information captured in the revised registration form had greatly assisted them to customise their intervention with the divorcing couples.

Through CART, SYC has also managed to identify service gaps to take service standards and outcomes to a higher level. For example, with the information captured, both SYC and the MCP partners were able to note the risk scores given ie the number of high, medium or low risks cases when allocating their resources. Couples who were identified as high risk for instance, would require more resources to minimise the impact of divorce/marital issues on them or their young dependents, thus ensuring that families remain stable despite the final outcome.

Through CART, SYC is also able to use it as a platform to work on the paramount interest of young dependents in divorce cases. More information can be gathered to assess the suitability of a joint or sole custody and divorcing couples are also able to tap on the expertise of the marriage counsellors on managing children’s issues before commencing divorce proceedings.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Syariah Court
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Murni Abbas
Title:   Manager  
Telephone/ Fax:   +6564716093
Institution's / Project's Website:   http://app.syariahcourt.gov.sg/syariah/front-end/S
E-mail:   murni_abbas@mcys.gov.sg  
Address:   8 Lengkok Bahru #03-01 Singapore 159052
Postal Code:   159052
City:   Singapore
State/Province:  
Country:   Singapore

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