Group Home for Girls is a shelter-care institution, a regional facility of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office XI, Davao City for Girls in Need of Special Protection ages 7-17 years of age. It was established in 1983 as the center of unwed mothers, renting a bungalow house at GSIS, Matina, Davao City through donations from the SDA and South Philippine Missions. The Center was moved to its present site when the Regional Center for Youth Offender (RCYO) now RRCY was moved to Bago Oshiro in 1985. The Home is situated in a 2,000 square meter lot; 1,000 of which was donated by the late Amado Lacuesta, Sr. for the disadvantaged youth. It is located at Maa Jail Road, Maa Davao City. The Inter-Agency Working Committee for Street Children headed by Councilor Leonardo Avila III had negotiated with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) for the release of Eight Hundred Thousand Pesos Only (P 800,000.00) for the construction of a new building in 1991 which was inaugurated on January 5, 1993.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
– To enable girls to resolve their problems and to be able to restore their normal functioning thus regaining self-worth and dignity through protective and rehabilitative services.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
– To provide a wide range of services for the protection and rehabilitation of clients geared towards reintegration to the family and the community.
– To protect clients from further neglect, abuse and exploitation.
– To provide self-enhancement and social life enrichment activities to enable them define their role in the family and the community.
– To effect linkages other agencies and organizations for effective implementation of programs and services.
In January 1991, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office XI, Davao created the Substitute Home Care for Women (SHCW) to immediately provide temporary shelter and protect the women victims from harm, hazardous, high risk situations. Realizing the significant contribution of the aforesaid center to the clientele group, solidly, backed up plans to build the regional centers for women as replica of the haven in Manila. This is to further enhance their reach out program to the Filipino who have been silently suffering from the different abuses and neglect in the countryside.
PROJECT BACKGROUND AND ITS OBJECTIVES
– The Substitute Home Care for Women is a residential facility that provides a 24 – hour alternative family care arrangement to disadvantaged women, particularly the so called Women in Especially Difficult Circumstances in crisis situation whose needs cannot be adequately met by their families over a period of time.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
– To enable women in especially difficult circumstances resolve their problems and be restored to normal functioning, thus, regaining their self, worth and dignity through provision of protective, and rehabilitative services.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
– To provide a wide range of services for the protection and rehabilitation of women in especially difficult circumstances which geared towards reintegration into their families if indicated.
– To provide a temporary Substitute Home Care for Women or Bahay Tuluyan ng Kababaihan to protect them from further harm/hazardous and high risk situation.
– To collaborate and coordinate with other GO’s and NGO’s in working with women in especially difficult circumstances, e.g. courts, hospitals, entrepreneurs and others.
TARGET CLIENTELLE
– The target clientele of Women In Especially Difficult Circumstances are the marginalized and disadvantaged women ages 18 to 59 years old.
These are :
1. Victims of Involuntary / Forced Prostitution
– This refers to women who were recruited for various forms for employment such as receptionists, waitresses, entertainers, dancers, household help who are later forced into prostitution.
2. Victims of Illegal Recruitment
– This refers to women who were recruited usually for a fee for various forms of local or foreign employment but ended up being victimized, i.e. no job placements were effected or who were actually job placed but under exploitative / oppressive conditions ( low salaries, long hours of work, etc. ) and / or have lost their jobs.
3. Battered /Abused Women
– This refers to women who are physically, mentally and emotionally maltreated / abused for various reasons by husbands, other family members, employers, etc. This would include wives, daughters, household help, etc.
4. Victims of Sexual Abuse
* Incest
– This refers to women who have carnal relations with their parent, siblings or blood relatives to the 4th degree of consanguinity.
* Rape
– This refers to women who have been victims of genital copulation usually accompanied by bodily threat with a deadly weapon.
5. Women In Detention
– This refers to women who have been detained for various reasons before a case is filed.
6. Women Victims of Armed Conflict
– This refers to women who have been traumatized due to death, displacement and disorganization of family members as a result of armed struggle.
Others
– This refers to women strandees, those who are tracing lost relatives and others who are in crisis needing immediate professional help, thus, preventing further exposure to exploitation and abuse.
Special Cases
– This refers to sexually abused children ( 13 – 17 years old ) who became pregnant of the incident and needs our protective services to the advantage of the subject clients.
Contact Person
Caroline F. Isugan,RSW
Center Head
Address : Maa Jail Road, Maa, Davao City
Telephone : (082) 244-0576
