Sunglao, Chad Lenard C.

BSAR – 4E

Kanlungan : A Transformative Blissful Recovery Center for Children through Parental-

Cognitive Approach

Review of Related Literature

1. Child Protection in the Philippines (a situational analysis)
From Save the Children Child Protection Initiative in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
By Jay A. Yacat (2011)

A situational analysis by “Save the Children” envisions the world in which every child attains
the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Their mission is to inspire
breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting
change in their lives.

Save the Children defines child protection as measures and structures to prevent and
respond to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence affecting children in all settings. Such
processes are essential to ensuring children’s rights to survival, development and well-
being in all settings at all times. It is when children are not protected that their rights as well
as their families are most threatened. In addition, reaching the most vulnerable and isolated
populations helps ensure the health and well-being of all and is indispensable in achieving
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Save the Children in the Philippines seeks to prioritize across the following strategy areas:
children in residential care, children in armed conflict and disasters, children in situations of
migration (including for trafficking purposes), and children in exploitative and hazardous
work conditions.

This situational analysis was commissioned by the Save the Children Child Protection
Initiative (CPI) as a preliminary exercise to develop evidence-based recommendations to
guide Save the Children in the Philippines to develop interventions under the CPI priority
result areas, building on existing programs and technical expertise.

Specifically, this study aimed to a) conduct a rapid assessment of the situation of children in
the Philippines in relation to the CPI priority result areas; b) identify gaps in existing policies,
programs and services; and c) provide a set of recommendations for Save the Children
child protection interventions.

The following components have been identified as elements of an effective child protection
system:
1. Legal and policy framework, including regulations and standards compliant with
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (UNCRC), other
international standards and good practice.
2. Effective regulation and oversight to ensure that standards are upheld at all
levels. Some argue that this component necessitates the existence of a specifi c
agency or ombudsperson dedicated to child protection and/or child welfare, with the
mandate, means, authority and responsibility to ensure that the system works
effectively.
3. Preventive and responsive services, including both the institutions and structures
(formal and informal, government and nongovernmental) that deliver the services,
and the processes through which services are delivered. These include case
management systems, other information systems, and appropriate budgeting and
management. In a formalized system, this will have as a core element, a social work
system providing a response to specific child protection issues and cases.
4. Effective coordination – particularly on case management – between relevant
government and non-governmental actors and between sectors at different levels.
5. Knowledge and data on child protection issues and good practices to inform
evidence-based policy development and advocacy.
6. A skilled child protection workforce that can respond and expand to meet the
specific protection issues arising in emergencies. Practitioners with minimum skills in
social or community work who can be trained quickly and have a core understanding
of child protection issues. A workforce should also include those with data
management skills and policy-makers able to develop appropriate policy and
legislative measures which rapidly respond to the immediate risks that children face.
7. Children’s voices and participation.
8. An aware and supportive public.
9. Adequate funding for all of the elements listed above, and appropriate budgeting
processes that cover both long- and short-term needs for child protection systems.

This study looks into the following elements of effective child protection systems: a)
knowledge about the root causes to and the extent of violence against children in the
identified priority area; b) appropriate policies and regulations; c) prevention measures; d)
provision of necessary treatment, rehabilitation and compensation to child victims; and e)
ways to monitor and measure progress.

Informed by a Child Rights Situational Analysis framework, the following aspects were
examined for each of the priority areas:
• The nature, extent, geographical distribution and prevalence.
• Which children are in need of (or are at the risk of needing) care and protection.
• The chief factors that put these children at risk, covering both the immediate and root
causes of harm.
• The views of children themselves on their situation and what should be done to improve it.
Research documents, case studies, census data and other statistical information that cover
the period 2000-2009 were actively sought and collected. Meanwhile, a total of 9 key
informants from selected NGOs and other organizations identified by Save the Children in
the Philippines served as key resource persons for particular CPI areas.

Analysis of Emotional Parameters to generate Emotional Variables

“Emotions are like the branches of a large oak tree. Though differences exist in their length,
girth and bearing; they manifest their imagibility in innumerable manners and at countless
times. Sometimes they may be tangible, sometimes they’re intangible; but often intangibility
could find a way to express in measurable terms too…” Urie Bronfenbrenner. (Transcept
from Ecological Systems Theory)
As per the Theory of Social Development (Erik Erikson)
The emotions in a human being are innumerable, but a few are only recognized in the
spectrum, namely – fear, angry, anxiety, trauma, obstinacy, freedom, aggression, humour,
playfulness, curiosity, self – obsession, cognition of place, security, attachment/
belongingness and social interaction/ mingling.
The emotional parameters were further narrowed down to those that impart a tangible
aspect with context of an open and informal recreational space. Hence, those derived out of
the earlier list of emotional spectrum are as follows: