Cagayan de Oro City — Communities in Northern Mindanao are getting better services from the centers and institutions run by Department of Social Welfare and Development. This was issued by Undersecretary Angelita Y. Gregorio-Medel of the DSWD Central Office, after these facilities have been declared to have higher level accreditation.

The Regional Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC), a residential facility for children aged 0-7 years old who were declared abandoned, neglected, and abused; Home for Girls, also a residential facility for maltreated and abused female minors; and the Regional Haven for Women, for abused women, were all declared to have third level accreditation.

According to Atty. Araceli F. Solamillo, Regional Director for DSWD Field Office X, the third level accreditation means that the centers have satisfactorily complied with the appropriate standards in the implementation of Residential-based programs and services for its clients in compliance with the provision of Section 23, Republic Act 4373, an “act to regulate the practice of social work and the operation of social work agencies in the Philippines and for other purposes.”

Second level of accreditation was declared recently  for Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth, which caters to children in conflict with the law by providing them rehabilitation and counseling.

Written by Charmaine P. Tadlas