Rationale and Policy Foundation
- Incidents of violence and risky behavior among children in schools, including gang violence, abuse, and substance use, need a coordinated response.
- The DepEd is mandated to protect children's rights, prevent CAR from entering conflict with the law, and support CICL reintegration.
- The guidelines support constitutional rights to education and child protection, and uphold the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
- The DepEd's Child Protection Policy, Anti-Bullying Act implementation, and prohibitions against hazing complement these guidelines.
Key Definitions
- Bahay Pag-Asa: LGU and NGO-run child-caring institution for CICL aged 15-18 awaiting court disposition or transfer.
- Child: Person under 18 years old.
- CICL: Child alleged or adjudged to have committed a legal offense.
- CAR: Child vulnerable to offending due to abuse, neglect, exploitation, family dysfunction, or status offenses.
- Diversion: Child-appropriate non-formal proceedings for CICL.
- Intervention: Programs aimed at wellbeing promotion, delinquency prevention, and reoffending prevention.
Rights of CICL
- Prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
- No death penalty or life imprisonment without release possibility.
- Right against arbitrary deprivation of liberty; detention as last resort and for shortest period.
- Humane treatment respecting child dignity, including separation from adults.
- Right to family contact, prompt legal assistance, bail, privacy, diversion, proportional judgment, suspension of sentence, and probation.
- Framework guided by international juvenile justice standards.
Duties and Responsibilities of DepEd Offices
- Central Office: Planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation in coordination with JJWC.
- Regional Offices: Participate in Regional Juvenile Justice and Welfare Committees, implement guidelines, maintain data, and network with stakeholders.
- Division Offices: Coordinate with LGUs and NGOs; integrate guidelines into trainings; data maintenance; recommend and implement protective measures; support LGU juvenile intervention programs.
- Schools: Collaborate with families and communities for crime prevention; provide individualized education and interventions; maintain confidentiality of records; coordinate assistance; monitor child progress; comply with assigned tasks.
Child Protection Committee (CPC)
- Established in all schools, comprised of school head, guidance counselor, teacher representative, parent representative, student representative, and BCPC member.
- Acts as Restorative Justice Panel when necessary, conducting Family Group Conferencing.
Capacity Building
- Development of learning and training modules by Central Office with JJWC.
- Regular capacity-building for CPCs, guidance counselors, and school personnel.
- Integration of trainings in school improvement plans.
Prevention and Intervention Programs
- Child-centered, based on Comprehensive National Juvenile Intervention Program (CNJIP).
- Three linked intervention levels: primary (broad social measures), secondary (targeted preventive strategies), tertiary (remedial measures for CICL).
- Primary: Youth development programs, parent-child integration, positive discipline, life skills training, health services, awareness seminars.
- Secondary: Individualized assessment and plans including counseling, behavior management, parenting training, mentoring, referrals, family therapy.
- Tertiary: Diversion, rehabilitation, reintegration, aftercare, with education through Alternative Learning System and other modes.
Procedures for Management of CAR and CICL
- Restorative justice emphasizes victim, offender, and community participation, aiming at reparation and reintegration.
- CAR management involves reporting, profiling, assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring, and termination of interventions.
- CAR with status offense violations subjected to counseling and restorative justice procedures.
- CICL offenses reported to law enforcement and social welfare; serious crimes involve immediate referral.
- CICL in diversion programs receive educational support; confidentiality and child rights protections are paramount.
- CICL in Bahay Pag-Asa receive supervised education and interventions.
- Former CICL have rights to reintegration via formal or alternative education.
- Victims receive appropriate interventions.
Reporting and Recording
- Documentation of all CAR and CICL cases is mandatory using prescribed forms.
- Annual reports from schools consolidated at division, regional, and central levels.
- Accurate case and intervention records essential for compliance.
Private Schools
- Encouraged to adopt juvenile justice policies consistent with guidelines.
Confidentiality
- Records on CAR and CICL strictly confidential, maintained by guidance counselors.
- Release only with written consent or court order.
- Unauthorized disclosure penalized administratively.
Effectivity
- The guidelines take effect immediately upon issuance and must be widely disseminated and strictly complied with.