Guidelines on Street Children Program

Legal bases and policy anchors

The 1987 Constitution, Article XV, Section III mandates the State to defend children’s right to assistance and special protection from neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other prejudicial conditions.
The 1991 Local Government Code vests LGUs with service delivery functions, including welfare services, and implementation of programs and projects for street children.
Republic Act No. 7610 requires formulation of a comprehensive program to protect children against abuse that endangers child survival and normal development.
P.D. 603 (Child and Youth Welfare Code) establishes the principle that the child is one of the most important assets of the nation and requires every effort to promote welfare and enhance opportunities for a useful and happy life.

Program purpose and declared objectives

The program addresses the street children situation through a comprehensive and integrated multi-sectoral initiative.
The program aims to take children away from the streets to prevent further exposure to harm, exploitation, abuse, and other hazards.
The program seeks to enable government at national and local levels, non-government agencies, business sectors, socio-civic-religious groups, and communities to collectively protect children.
The program objectives include:
- Rescue street children from the streets to protect them from hazards, risks, abuse, and exploitation.
- Provide children and their families adequate social services for physical, social, spiritual, and emotional development.
- Effect changes among families to prevent family disintegration through parenting enrichment and livelihood assistance.
- Mobilize and strengthen partnerships among community and sectoral actors in collective child protection.

Key definitions for implementation

A Child is a person under 18 years of age.
An Abused child is a child who has been hurt physically, psychologically, and emotionally, or is exploited or deprived of basic needs, care, and affection by parents and/or other caretakers/guardians.
Substance Abuse covers use of substances such as inhalants (e.g., gasoline, glues, and solvents); cannabis; alcohol; methamphetamine (“shabu”); cough syrup; tobacco; and psychoactive substances.
Children in-Conflict with the Law refers to street children apprehended by police because of crimes committed or violation of city ordinances, with pending cases in court, and currently staying in temporary detention centers for custodial care and training.
A Case Management Team is a multi-disciplinary team composed of a social worker, street educator/field worker, houseparent, psychologists, psychiatrist, and other professionals to formulate an appropriate intervention plan.

Coverage: who qualifies and where implemented

Street children are persons below 18 years of age who spend a significant amount of time on the streets and similar public areas.
Street children include those found in markets, parks, premises of malls, ports and airports, and other similar areas.
Street children may be engaged in livelihoods and behaviors such as pushing garbage carts, shining shoes, scavenging for scrap, watching parked cars, peddling cigarettes, plastic bags, newspapers, sampaguita garlands, begging, selling, roaming, or knocking at cars.
Street children adopt the streets as homes, sources of livelihood, or both, and whether or not they keep family ties, they are inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults.
The program is implemented in key cities and urban areas nationwide with high incidence of street children.

Program components and service delivery modes

The program includes the following major components:
- Rescue Operation
- Social Mobilization and Networking
- Basic Services Delivery
- Capability Building of Implementors and Beneficiaries
- Data-Banking, Documentation and Research
- Project Management and Fund Management and reporting/monitoring mechanisms.
Rescue Operation takes street children away from the streets for protection from exploitation, syndicates, and other forms of abuse, and functions as a reaching-out process to help children decide on better options.
Social Mobilization and Networking forms core groups and/or strengthens Task Forces or Clusters at the city level composed of LGUs, national agencies, NGOs, stakeholders, community leaders and volunteers, including committees under the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children, plus the street children and their families.
Basic Services Delivery uses three modes based on needs and readiness:
- Street-based
- Center-based
- Community-based
Street-based approach reaches children in streets and outside homes through street educators who link them to community resources through counseling and dialogues to build trust and friendly relationships, aiming to enable decisions to return to families or be referred to residential centers.
Center-based approach provides a temporary placement with physical and emotional environment and structured experiences to prepare for reintegration.
- Drop-in center provides a 24-hour service for day or night shelter as respite, including rest, play, eating, sleeping, hygiene, peer socialization, alternative education, counseling, and either family reunification or safety/security in residential centers.
- Temporary Shelters or Residential Centers provide 24-hour residential group care on a temporary basis designed for street children needing therapeutic environment approximating family life under specially trained staff, including food, clothing, health services, skills training, counseling, preparation for foster care, and possibly adoption.
Community-based approach is preventive at the point of origin—the family and community—and aims to enhance family and community capacities and mobilize support systems, with services directed to:
- Street Children
- Families
- Communities

Community-based services and programs

For Street Children, the program provides:
- Educational Assistance Program (EAP) to assist children to go back to school at primary or secondary level including vocational training; the objective includes enabling children to remain in school and reducing working time on streets, supported by regular parent meetings to sustain motivation.
- Skills Training to provide and/or enhance skills of older street children for gainful employment through community agencies or referrals to skills training centers, with marketable skills planned and identified based on the child’s needs and skills.
- Life Skills Development to develop ability to relate to and respect others and self, know and carry out responsibilities, and be more aware and perceptive about the environment through value formation, games, workshops, and activities that foster teamwork, cooperation, planning, decision-making, testing ideas, and identifying weaknesses and strengths.
- Peer Support Group by training selected street children as peer counselors, educators, and advocates for positive lifestyles and children’s rights to assist other children in times of need, guiding them toward self-reliance and participation in society’s development.
- Alternative Family Care for children whose parents cannot provide basic needs due to family relationship problems, extreme poverty, or lack of parenting preparation, through adoption, foster family care, legal guardianship, or kinship care.
For Families, the program provides:
- Parent Effectiveness Sessions (PES) as a 10-week course (half day per week) on parenting skills enhancement and promotion of family spirituality, focusing on enhancing knowledge and skills on care and management with emphasis on family unity, cohesiveness, spirituality, effective behavior management techniques, and informing parents/guardians of children’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant laws and issuances.
- Livelihood Development to augment family income, primarily through livelihood assistance or micro-credit entrepreneurship for parents interested in feasible income-generating projects using available resources, including small entrepreneurial activities such as garment sewing, sari-sari store keeping, food vending, and newspaper vending.
- Family Counseling to assist families to cope with anxieties, frustrations, traumas, and strengthen capacities for problem resolution affecting children, with family members participating in activities on role adjustments and performance and using religious groups and business sectors to provide counseling and group sessions.
For Communities, the program provides:
- The Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) at barangay level, subsumed under an appropriate existing barangay development council committee, emphasizing family and community-level actions and ensuring protection and proper development through actions that guarantee safety, health, good morale environment, and facilities for wholesome development.
- Advocacy and Social Mobilization through advocacy activities among target communities, religious groups, business sector, and civil society to raise awareness and solicit support and involvement in the street children program.
The program also provides Capability Building of Implementors and Beneficiaries by orienting direct service workers—social workers, street educators, barangay personnel, police, and volunteers—and training them to conduct capability training seminars, sessions, and workshops for indigenous leaders, volunteers, and families.

Project management and responsible roles

LGUs through Street Children Task Forces (also called Street Children Working Committees or Clusters or its equivalent) lead the coordination of street children programs.
Task Forces composed of representatives from government agencies, NGOs, church groups, civic associations, and community/people organizations primarily handle planning, implementing, capability-building, advocacy and networking, and evaluation.
The DSWD provides technical assistance, including capability building, to the Task Forces/Clusters/Working Committees.
At the local level, committees or task-groups perform defined functions under the Task Force, including:
- Programs Committee for inventory and monitoring of centers, technical assistance in case management and training, recommending agencies for licensing/accreditation and standards compliance, conducting inter-agency meetings for sharing, recommending fund augmentation support, and identifying needed capability building.
- Legal Affairs Committee for legal assistance and counsel, especially during rescue operations and litigation of cases against street children abusers and exploiters.
- Micro-Clusters Committee to implement PES directly and identify street children and families to support with vocational skills training, sports program, medical/dental services, legal assistance, and capital loan assistance.
- Law Enforcement functions including assisting during rescue and reach-out operations and referral, arresting poly-drug users and syndicates manipulating street children, assisting in reactivation/organization of BCPCs, organizing Women and Children’s Concerns Desks in police stations, and conducting intelligence operations to neutralize criminal syndicates preying on street children when necessary.
- Media Affairs and Public Information functions including advocacy and providing information/education/communication through interviews, guestings, features, press releases, updates, column feeds, press conferences, and publicity materials.
- Resource Generation and Special Events for resource-generation and awareness activities through meetings with corporations for financial support and charitable events.
- Volunteer Mobilization Group to market the project concept and mobilize civic and religious groups for participation and commitment.
- Secretariat functions including identifying its own secretariat, providing coordinative and referral services to committees, and preparing reports for submission to the Regional Council for the Welfare of Children.

Reporting, monitoring, and technical assistance

At the national level, the DSWD Information Management Division of the Policy, Plan and Information System Bureau (PPISB):
- Devises a reporting format and monitors submission of street children project accomplishment.
- Prepares and packages an annual report on the street children program.
The local task force submits a quarterly consolidated report to the DSWD Field Office not later than the 7th day of the proceeding month, and the report is forwarded to the central office Information Management Division of Policy, Plans and Information System Bureau.
LGUs conduct monitoring and assessment of project status.
The Council for the Welfare of Children’s Sub-Task Force on Street Children together with the DSWD Field Office provides technical assistance and monitors implementation of the work and financial plan prepared by the local task force.
An annual Chairpersons Meeting is convened by the Sub-Task Force on Street Children for discussion of thrust and directions.

Funds, accounting, and audit rules

Funds for street children programs are approved by the Sanggunian, as mandated by the 1991 Local Government Code for social welfare services devolved to LGUs.
The DSWD and other national agencies may augment LGU and NGO budgets for street children projects in the form of cash or donations in kind.
Project funds must be properly accounted for and managed by receiving organizations under the approved Work and Financial Plan.
All disbursements and liquidations must follow existing auditing rules and regulations or the liquidation terms stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement between implementing organizations and the DSWD or sponsors/donors.

Operating procedures for street children operations

Street education provides an alternative response that delivers basic services and information to ensure street children’s survival and protection against harsh elements, and enables children to decide on better options such as returning home, returning to formal schooling, or availing foster homes and shelter homes for rehabilitation.
Rescue operations are pursued only when street education is ineffective and street children remain in the streets.
Prior to rescue, street children require social and psychological preparation through activities led by social workers and street educators with barangay/community representatives, including:
- Ocular survey/surveillance in critical areas.
- Informal talks (interviews) with the children.
- Involving children in the preparation process.
- Validating needs and problems gathered by baseline interviews.
- Assessing children’s situations to determine decisions to return to families, placement in centers, or inclusion in rescue operations.
Rescue operations are undertaken by a team composed of LGU social workers as head and barangay officials as members in coordination with law enforcement authorities such as PNP, and rescue operations must be properly guided by barangay officials.
Rescue target clientele includes:
- Children below 18 years found abandoned, neglected, abused, exploited, including those begging, selling, and roaming the streets.
- Children below 18 years engaged in sniffing rugby/solvents and other involvement in substance abuse.
The social worker ensures rescued children are turned over to processing areas.
After rescue, children are placed immediately in a processing/holding area providing immediate basic needs and protection, including sleeping quarters and basic water, lights, and communication facilities.
- Drop-in or reception and action centers of LGUs or NGOs may be used if they provide: food; bath; intake/interview/assessment; initial counseling; and medical/drug testing.
Discharge from holding areas proceeds to:
- Community-based services (involvement of barangay and family),
- Center-based services, or
- Drug rehabilitation.
The length of stay in holding areas ranges from one week to one month.
Rehabilitation involves the social worker determining appropriate intervention and prompt action after data assessment, with a disposition plan jointly made with the client or—if the client is a minor—with parents or relatives who can stand on behalf.
Once released from holding centers:
- LGUs/NGOs conduct family case assessment.
- Within a week, social workers undertake family case management as the basis for child/family interventions.
After release, services include items such as home visits, case management, preparation of home study reports, individual/group counseling, family counseling, PES training, educational services, livelihood training assistance, permanency plans/alternative family care (including foster care), and after-care services.
Release/discharge to families for parents who attended PES requires securing: Certificate of Live Birth, Barangay Clearance, 10 day PES certificate of appearance, and Kasunduan (Agreement) from parents ensuring children will not return to the streets.
Balik-Probinsiya (Release to Provinces) requires coordination with LGUs through field offices and after-care services by LGU social workers.
After-care follow-up is based on the rehabilitation plan, with coordination to the concerned region/institution/LGU on the disposition nature (community-based or institution/center-based), and sending necessary documents of discharged cases to receiving units/offices for reference.
Reintegrations require social preparation for discharged children returning to their families/communities.
Former street children may be organized into groups for continuing protection, development, and participation toward sustainability.

Institutional mechanism and cross-agency roles

The DSWD Field Office through the Regional Council for the Welfare of Children leads coordination of street children programs at the regional level.
Local government units must:
- Enact child-friendly ordinances affecting street children and other children in need of special protection.
- Integrate child rights and welfare into development plans, policies, programs, and projects.
- Establish City/Municipal/Barangay Councils for the Protection of Children.
- Work for inter-local government cooperative and collaborative undertakings for delivery of basic services.
- Allocate/provide funds for implementing programs addressing street children and families.
- Mobilize active participation of NGOs, people’s organizations, financing and other institutions.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government shall mobilize and strengthen councils for child protection, provide technical assistance in LGU development plan formulation regarding children’s rights and family welfare, monitor implementation of LGU street children action plans jointly with DSWD, coordinate with DSWD and other concerned agencies for matters relative to implementation, advocate institutionalization of the AusAID Street Children initiative and conscientious implementation by LGUs of child-friendly laws, and access possible external funding sources.
The Philippine National Police shall ensure functional Women and Children’s Desk with trained police officers, enforce child protection laws, conduct surveillance and arrest syndicates controlling street children and their families.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development shall provide technical assistance and training for policy guidelines and community mobilization, assist LGUs and NGOs in rescue and rehabilitation processes and crisis intervention units, establish data-based information system on street children at national level in collaboration with LGUs and NGOs, assist in rescue generation, and provide capability-building for program managers and service providers.
The Department of Health shall provide technical assistance for planning and implementation of prevention of disease and basic health services and formulate specific guidelines for effective implementation for street children programs/projects/activities.
The Department of Education, Culture and Sports shall provide information and assistance on education problems, deliver non-formal education or alternative educational systems and livelihood skills training, assist parents in providing education and care, and provide venues for formal and non-formal students to participate in contests and socio-cultural activities.
The Department of Trade and Industries shall assist street children and parents in livelihood project preparation through skills and entrepreneurship training facilitation, facilitate access to livelihood assistance including information on sources of financing and raw materials sourcing and marketing/advisory services, and develop awareness and involvement in consumer welfare programs.
The Commission on Human Rights shall advocate for the promotion of children’s rights.
Non-Government Organizations partner with NGAs in knowledge generation and database building, planning, developing, and advocating child rights and street children programs; recognize and support youth and street children organizations; provide financial and moral support; develop programs for prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration; and establish networking systems with GO providers of shelter homes and support services.
Business sectors shall partner by providing sponsorship/scholarship, sponsoring sports festivals with recreational equipment/materials, and conducting symposia to increase awareness.
Religious groups shall provide continuing education focused on value formation and leadership training for children and youth and parents and community members; partner on family enrichment programs through PES with focus on family spirituality, livelihood skills training, health education on alternative medicine (e.g., herbal), campaigns against unhealthy practices on abortion, pre-marital sex, drug addiction, and reproductive health issues; and lobby for passage of children’s laws and coordinate with sectors on needs of street children.

Effects on existing issuances

The order revokes other issuances contrary to the program guidelines.
The order takes effect immediately upon adoption.