Social Welfare office documents orphaned children by ‘Sendong’

AN INITIAL record of 15 children who were separated, unaccompanied and orphaned in Iligan City had been documented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Northern Mindanao.

Lawyer Araceli F. Solamillo, DSWD regional director, said a Social Welfare Officer (SWO) had been assigned to document cases of these children who were separated, unaccompanied and orphaned by Tropical Storm Sendong, in coordination with all the Camp Managers of the evacuation centers (ECs) in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

However, she said no information yet on the consolidation/disaggregation of data in the ECs of Cagayan de Oro have been completed and turned over to the DSWD.

Solamillo said the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (Unicef) is now gearing up for a series of training activities on Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR), Psychosocial Care and Support (PCS) and Social Work Case Management (SWCM).

“These capacity building activities are for city social workers and child protection partners,” she said.

Unicef has also organized a series of psychosocial activities for more than 1,300 children in 12 evacuation centers in both cities while at least 3,000 children have also been reached with psychosocial and debriefing activities.

Meanwhile, 97 volunteers from the Education Cluster have been trained on psychosocial support and care last January 8 to 10, to assist teachers from the Department of Education in handling sessions in classroom setting.

Solamillo said the Unicef also spearheaded the distribution of advocacy materials for the “Say No, Run and Tell” for the prevention of abuse in evacuation centers. (PIA)