The Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region encourages the netizens to use Twitter, a micro-blogging site, to help reach out street children on the thoroughfares of Metro Manila.
DSWD-NCR Regional Director Vincent Andrew T. Leyson said that the public can report kids sleeping, loitering, begging or vending on the streets through its Twitter account @savestreetkids.
Leyson explained that to report street kids, netizens can simply tweet the complete name of street or intersection, the nearest landmark, name of city/municipality and the actual time when the street kids were sighted. They will be updated on the status of their report as soon as reach-out activities have been conducted.
“Let us work together to keep away those children from the danger of the streets,” he uttered.
Meanwhile, a total of 233 individuals were reach-out for the first semester of this year in coordination with the Local Government Units (LGUs) and barangays. They were referred to LGUs, centers and residential care facilities (C/RCFs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and other concerned offices for provision of necessary intervention such as family counseling, inclusion to Modified Conditional Cash Transfer Program for Homeless Street Families (MCCT-HSF), while some returned to their homes and provinces through Balik-Probinsya program.
The use of this micro-blogging site is a strategy that will contribute to the attainment of DSWD’s goal to achieve zero incidences of street children in critical areas in Metro Manila. Through this, the public were provided with access to report the various activities of the street children and families. ### (FO-NCR, Social Marketing Office)