Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo said the city government, through its local Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) office, will provide financial and technical assistance to the drifters.
"The move is part of the city government’s Sagip Kalinga program which is aimed to help homeless kids go back to their parents or providing them temporary homes through our Bahay Kalinga," Malonzo said.
Children 12 years old and below, particularly the solvent users whose parents are no longer interested in taking them back, will be housed at the city’s two mercy institutions, the Social Development Center for the girls and the Tahanang Mapagpala for the boys, both in Bagumbong, Caloocan City North.
While at the institutions, the children will be given two choices, whether to take up formal studies or to undergo skills enhancement training until such time that they are again ready to return to normal lives, Malonzo said.
Parents of the street children who want to take back their kids will be required to undergo a responsible parenthood seminar and will be required to sign a waiver that once they again fail to take care of their children, they will be held answerable to the DSWD.
Malonzo said that homeless adults will also be provided with skills training seminars or they can avail of the DSWD’s Balik Probinsya program.
Aries, 14, said he prefers to go with the DSWD personnel than to go home to his irresponsible parents who according to him are both drug addicts.
"Ayaw ko na sa amin (I don’t want to go home)," he said, when asked why he prefers sleeping on the streets.
Leo, 12, on the other hand, begged to go home and promised that he will no longer sleep in the city’s cemetery.
"Mag-aaral na lang ako (I’ll just continue my studies)," he said. –Pete Laude