Now to take care of “kariton families” — Pque

The Dept. of Social Welfare and Development-National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR), in coordination with the Parañaque City Government conducted a screening of street families in the city for eligibility under the Expanded Conditional Cash Transfer Program (ECCT). Coordinating for the city is the Parañaque DSWD headed by Mr. Dean Calleja.

The program aims to get “kariton families” and the like out of the streets where they are prone to crime, abuse, indignations, accidents and diseases. With the monthly ECCT cash grants, the beneficiary-families can start a livelihood activity and use part of the proceeds of the enterprise for their basic needs.

Said screening was done on August 1, 2012 in Brgy. Tambo and on August 3, 2012 in Brgy. Baclaran. The former has 22 street families while the latter has 31.

While all of the above families fall under the DSWD definition of “street families”, being homeless and having no proper source of livelihood, they must continue to meet the qualifications and conditions prescribed under the program as follows:1)They must enroll their children in Alternative Learning System (ALS) and keep them attending classes until they finish the curriculum; and 2)The street families must attend values formation sessions organized by the DSWD.

“We commend the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development for its continuing efforts to improve the lives of street families. The Parañaque City Government will always be supporting this program as other DSWD service platforms.”, Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe, Jr. said.