- CSWDO to put more teeth into law to keep children off the streets
PARENTS whose rescued children will be prosecuted if the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) finds them on the streets again.
Mae Aquino, CSWDO Planning information, Research and Communication Section head, said some of the rescued kids claimed to have been forced to sell on the streets on their parents’ orders.
“Kinahanglan tinod-on na gyud nato ang pagpakaso sa mga ginikanan nga ginagamit ilang mga anak, nahulog najud ni silag child laborer (We need to seriously prosecute the parents who are using their children, who en up as a child laborer),” Aquino said.
She said the child’s development is at risk since they are spending extended hours on the streets rather than getting a good night’s sleep.
“Kinahanglan lang gyud og ngipon sa pagpatuman, paghatag ug appropriate legal actions sa mga parents para masampolan sila, og moundang ilang mga anak maglatagaw (The enforcement needed teeth, take appropriate legal actions against the parents and set an example so that their kids would stop loitering),” she added.
She said the CSWDO has no record of any parent previously facing a charge for the offense. Instead, she vowed to strengthen their daily surveillance and rescue.
The city continues its program of providing employment to parents after noting their economic struggles, which might have forced them to send their kids out to help with the family income.
Aquino reported that in 2023, the Kean Gabriel hotline received 128 calls for rescue against various types of abuse, exploitation, and abandonment.
For the same period, there are 37 children in conflict with the law (CICL) and 224 children at risk under the Quick Response Team for Children’s Concern (QRTCC).
For the year 2024, as of September, the office recorded 33 CICLs, 122 children at risk, and 120 received calls in the Kean Gabriel hotline.
The rescued were either housed in city-run facilities or reintegrated into their families. Reintegration of children to their parents depends on the assessment of the social worker if the parents are capable of taking their child back.
In the event that the parents are not ready, the children will be under the custody of the city.
The existing centers in the city that cater to rescued children are the Balay Sidlakan, Crisis Intervention Center (CIC) Balay Dangupan, Davao City Children’s Village or Bahay Pag-asa and the Lingap for mentally challenged children rescued from abandonment. The Paginhawaan Drop-in Center also houses street children before sending them back to their parents.
File Photo by Bing Gonzales
