ADVOCACY
Project Background:
- To promote prevention and identification of child abuse (primarily sexual and physical), and to provide direct empowerment to children against abuse by way of a Puppet Show and youth advocacy seminar;
- To establish a Child Protection System in the target communities and schools;
- To prevent and protect children from abuse and exploitation; and
- To be the frontrunner in the immediate protection of children from molesters and pedophiles in the aftermath of natural disasters.
Long-term Benefits:
To protect the child’s well being – spiritual, physical, psychological, behavioral & social
Each of the Mobile Puppet Theater can empower 25,000 children a year and can set – up different schools and communities Child Protection Systems to safeguard the welfare of children.
Programs and Services:
1. Puppet Show and Focus Group Discussion (For elementary level students)- Teach the Rights of a child
- Ask children about their dreams (encourage particicipation)
- Song about the 10 rights of a child
- Teach Safety Rules – identify safe touch and unsafe touch, say “No”, run and tell
- Interactive processing – lessons learned from the story, having a right attitude
- Key persons to go to if somebody wants to abuse a child
- Watch out for disclosures.
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Teach 10 Rights of a child
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Right to Protection – Laws & Violations
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Understanding Child Sexual Abuse
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Effects to victims
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Facts and figures about CSA
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Practices that worsens the abuse
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Fear of child to tell the abuse
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Film Showing “The Daughter”
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True story of an abuse child
- Safety Rules.
3. Child Protection System Training (For Teachers, Community Leaders & Parents)
- General Principles to effective response in protecting children
- Types of Child Abuse
- Sonia’s Story
- Understanding Child Sexual Abuse
- Facts and figures about CSA (including the output of the program)
- Issues & Concerns in reporting child abuse cases in the Philippines Laws & Issuances on Children
- Handling Disclosures
- Rules and regulations in reporting child abuse cases
- Establishing Child Protection System
- Recommended activities after the training
- Partners and Networks
- Expressive Therapies & psychosocial intervention
- Case management for orphans
- Relief Assistance
- Unstructured activities & Supplemental feeding
- Network and Resource mobilization.
RESIDENTIAL
Project Background:
Since its grass-roots beginnings in 1993, HOPE worldwide Philippines has greatly contributed to the collective effort to prevent, identify and handle child sexual abuse cases, having implemented a model child welfare and protection system in the Philippines integrating community-based programs and services along with prevention, identification and treatment of child sexual abuse. This system of child welfare touches over 100,000 poor children and youth annually and maintains a sustained attack and safety net while tackling long-term problems that perpetuate child abuse and neglect. But the facilities and services necessary to address the number of disclosed Child Sexual Abuse cases are insufficient, leaving children unable to get the help they need to recover from abuse. To meet this need HOPE worldwide Philippines established a Treatment Center, officially inaugurated and commissioned on February 5, 2005. This facility, named the Laguna Center of HOPE worldwide targets abused children, specializing in child sexual and physical abuse cases.
Birds eye view of the Laguna Center of HOPE
The Laguna Center of HOPE provides treatment and residential care primarily conducted through a total family approach wherein each child is given a father and mother (house parents) and brothers and sisters structure. The treatment of each child is being handled by a multi-disciplinary case management team, offering a wide range of skills, including psychological and psychiatric assessment. The center aims to help children and their families become whole again in which they have attained social functioning in an environment where they interact constructively, have developed a sense of hope and that encourages the children and their families to succeed.
Programs and Services:
1. Residential Care Program
2. Case Management Program
The program implements the multi-disciplinary approach to provide more comprehensive case management services to child victims of abuse, especially sexual abuse victims. The multi-disciplinary team is composed of social workers (team leader), counselors, psychologists, teachers, house parents, lawyers and medical doctors/nurses. The social worker takes responsibility for an “organized arrangement” of services to heal, rehabilitate, care for or seek change for the child victim. Each case typically involves three stages; assessment, intervention/treatment and termination. The social worker and the multi-disciplinary team conduct a weekly case conference to discuss, assess and propose individualized treatment strategies for each child. Treatment and intervention can borrow from a number of therapeutic approaches to suit the needs of the child or family. Treatment plans are comprehensive and outcome oriented and may include round-the-clock victim counseling; behavior modification; family mediation; individual, group and family therapy; peer counseling; art therapy; and life skills training.
The Family Reunification provides comprehensive family intervention to families or immediate relatives of the children that have been placed in the Center of Hope for protective custody and healing. The purpose of the program is to reunite these children with their families or relatives who are supportive to the case of the child.- Foster Care provides children with a short term or long-term home and a supportive, permanent family environment where they cannot live with their birth parents. Foster parents will be trained and licensed through the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the children they foster will be organized as alumni to further strengthen commitment and ensure the continuity of the program. Our Foster Care Program follows the policies and procedures set by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the social worker in charge will work closely with DSWD.
- Adoption. Surrendered, neglected and abandoned children will be submitted for permanent placement through adoption, which will be coordinated closely with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and matching Board for both local and inter-country adoptions. Social workers in charge will likewise work closely with DSWD following the policies and procedures on adoption.
- The Independent Living Program provides services to assist teens and young adults with the transition from our Residential Care Program into an independent living situation. The Independent Living Program provides the following services: housing; food; clothing; education; medical, skills training, and other social services.
- Aftercare and Monitoring is an after care service of the Center of HOPE worldwide in order to monitor a child’s adjustment and functioning, coping and life skills towards herself, her family, environment, community and vise versa. It also aims to assist the client and the family on how to cope and move on with their current functioning and ensure the protection and safety of the client. The after care program shall only be for 6 months, as a minimum, and up to 12 months maximum time frame. The Center of HOPE worldwide intends to monitor the cases however on a 5 year time frame, in order to determine if there has been a significant and long term impact towards the client and the family.
- Provide Individual or Group therapy (Play therapy and Art therapy) for children in the Center based and community based projects of HOPE worldwide Philippines.
- Help children to develop positive coping skills to live with their traumas* (Creative Arts Therapy)
- Organized trainings, workshops and seminars for primary caregivers to provide them with psychological training in dealing with children in the Center.
- Provide family intervention in the community through therapy and various trainings and workshops to facilitate healing and empowerment.
- Provide a venue for volunteers to facilitate therapeutic activities with children in the center.
- Establish networks with other professionals or organization that provides psychological services to children in especially difficult circumstances.
The children in the Laguna Center of Hope avail of the in-house school program such as the pre-school and feeding; skills training; public education, depending on their age. In each home, daily devotions instill Christian values. Children are encouraged to participate in activities at school and peers. The child's house parents and social workers provides spiritual, emotional, and academic guidance on-site.
COMMUNITY
Project Background:
Through the Community-Based Programs large numbers of impoverished and compromised children are educated on their rights giving them adequate and appropriate information to help them make informed decisions and choices. Social services provided at the centers include a Day Care and Feeding Program (DFP) where needy children are selected and educated. Children are also closely monitored and given extended medical and nutritional assistance. Children and out-of-school youth within the communities are encouraged to join the Child and Youth Development Program (CYDP) where they can receive tutorials, free use of the library, or have a chance to get formal school educational assistance through the Child Sponsorship Program. Through this program, the most vulnerable children are identified and placed in the Community-Based Treatment and Recovery Program (CBTRP) for special case management, therapy, and referrals. Children needing residential or protective services are placed into our center-based program, the Center of HOPE-Laguna.
Programs and Services:
1. Child and Youth Development Program (CYDP)
This program seeks to provide a safe place and structured activities for children in the community ages 7 to 15 years. Children and youth come and participate in the sports activities, arts & crafts, fun and educational games, and read or study in the library. The library is equipped with various learning tools, computers with internet access that the children and youth of the community can utilize. Those with other concerns may also seek counseling from trained full-time HOPE staff in the center. This program is run out of the Baseco, Laguna and Payatas Center of HOPE worldwide and currently reaches a combined number of 10,000 children annually.
2. Day Care and Feeding Program (DFP)
A family-friendly and culture-sensitive program seeking to facilitate the psycho-social, physical, spiritual, mental and emotional development of urban poor children ages five to six years old. The program focuses on prevention / early intervention and is developmental in nature. The program also helps the pre-schooler's family by freeing up parents or guardians to work or do household chores during the morning hours from 9 am to 12 noon or for the afternoon session from 2pm to 5pm. Parents / guardians also attend parent-teacher talks, parent 
effectiveness training, special outings and are free to observe the classes. Subjects taught are Values, Arts & Crafts, Reading & Writing, Mathematics, Physical Education, Eight rules for safety to prevent abuse, children’s rights, and Community Service. This program is run out of the Baseco, Payatas and Laguna Center of HOPE worldwide and currently reaches a combined number of 250 beneficiaries annually.
3. Community-Based Treatment and Recovery Program (CBTRP)
The Community-Based Treatment and Recovery Program meets the treatment and recovery needs of identified cases of abused children from the targeted community. These abused children do not need residential care because they are not in need of protection. One criterion for community-based clients is that the perpetrator is not within the family or the immediate community. Community-based treatment has a number of benefits to the client and the helping organization.
For the client, the healing process is more stable. They experience no trauma because they are not removed from their family and/or community. Often, abused children have severe separation anxiety and attempt to run away when placed in residential treatment. A community-based family approach involves helping the family become the primary self-sustaining, stable support system for the child/client.
Another advantage is that the Community-based Center of HOPE is located within the client’s community. This further aims to strengthen the client’s primary safety nets. The Center of HOPE in the community can be a big support to the client and the family by providing a safe venue where clients can be monitored, supported, and linked to the Child and Youth Development Program and other services offered by the Center. This will also be the primary venue where treatment such as individual counseling and therapy, group counseling, and family counseling will take place.
For the helping organization, the benefits can be great. It is both impactful and cost effective to run a successful community-based treatment program. It has been proven in past operations that we can impact larger numbers of clients and further promote the healing process when it is within the support network of the client’s family, the Center of HOPE and the Treatment and Recovery Program. Cost analysis per client under Community-Based Treatment and Recovery versus residential treatment is dramatic. Child abuse, which is a community problem, requires a coordinated community solution. Therefore in the long term, Community Based Treatment and Recovery Program is a more sustainable strategy in meeting the growing number of abuse victims.
