Grappling with the untold price of domestic help

MANY in Singapore take for granted the privilege of being able to hire domestic help. I certainly do.

A domestic helper is almost indispensable for those who have young children and/or elderly parents in the same household. A helper frees us to have our cake and eat it – build a career and savings, while juggling the commitments of parenthood or eldercare.

But a recent health scare over my own helper – which remains deeply disturbing and unresolved – drives home a discomfiting question. By leaving the Philippines to work in Singapore, she has sacrificed the caregiving she could have provided to her own two children. What long-term consequences has that wreaked on her family?