For the month of April 2014, the Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) was able to reach-out 54 individuals within the streets of Metro Manila through the twitter account, @savestreetkids. It is a project launched by the DSWD in November 2012 in partnership with the Local Government Units that aims to provide social services to reported occurrences of street children wandering in major thoroughfares in the National Capital Region.
Among the reached-out individuals, nine (9) are homeless families, eight (8) are adults, and seven (7) of them are children who were provided with immediate social services. As defined in the protocol handbook of the Council for the Welfare of Children, Reach Out is “the process by which the street child/ren is/are taken away from the streets and hazardous environment to protect him/her/them from further harm or abuse and is brought to a diagnostic and assessment center for further assessment and case management.”
Among the said homeless families, six (6) of them are already registered households of the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Homeless Street Families (MCCT-HSF) who are being monitored for health and education compliance of the children, while under the process of availing alternative family homes. MCCT-HSF is a program of DSWD that serves families who were not included in the regular Pantawid Pamilya program due to mobility of residence, wherein beneficiaries are receiving assistance such as safe and responsive housing and cash grants for the health and education of the children, provided they comply with the conditionalities of the program.
Out of the reached-out individuals, three (3) were referred to concerned DSWD centers while two (2) were referred to the City of Manila for immediate intervention. Meanwhile, an individual was referred to the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) for proper case disposition.
According to Director Ma. Alicia S. Bonoan of DSWD-NCR, the use of twitter, a micro-blogging site, is a strategic contribution to attain DSWD’s goal of zero incidence of street children in critical areas in Metro Manila. Through the use of this micro-blogging site, the public is given access to report sightings of street children and families who are either sleeping, loitering or doing informal chores on the streets. ### (FO NCR, Social Marketing Office, May 27, 2014)