Restorative Justice in Family Work in Singapore: A Tool for Reflective Practice

Kek Seow Ling is currently the Principal Social Worker/Deputy Executive Director for Lutheran Community Care Services (LCCS).

Seow Ling has rich and vast experience in working with families. She has also used Family Group Decision Making, one of the approaches in Restorative Practices, as a platform for families to confront their family issues.

In Singapore, the use of restorative justice in family work in community-based setting seems not to be a mainstream practice. Seow Ling believes that restorative justice can be aptly used in social work practice with families in the community, which are characterised by having multiple issues including financial, parenting, child abuse and neglect, youth delinquency and domestic violence. Seow Ling believes that restorative justice deserves inclusion in social work practice as it aligns with the social work values, especially the values of social justice, dignity and worth of the person, and the importance of relationships. Through her practice of restorative justice, Seow Ling also finds it to be aligned with the social psychological theories that social workers are accustomed to.

Accumulative of Seow Ling's practice, a reflection tool is developed to facilitate practitioners to review their restorative justice interventions with the families. At her workshop, she will be sharing about this tool, which is based on the proposed and operationalisation of the restorative justice principles. It serves to facilitate review on how restorative the interventions are. A theory of change is suggested to enable the practitioners to consider the factors for effective interventions when using restorative justice in family work. It is hoped that the tool can advance the use of restorative justice in family work in Singapore in community-based setting.

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