DSWD Meaning – Department of Social Welfare and Development

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The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is a department of the Philippine government charged with promotion and protection of the social welfare and development of Filipinos. If you’re wondering about what DSWD does, its functions, programs, and services, please keep reading.

The DSWD protects vulnerable groups such as orphans, abandoned children, street children, people with disabilities, the elderly, women, and indigenous peoples. During times of calamity and disaster, the department also provides relief assistance.

Through its programs on livelihood, social housing, educational assistance, and cash transfers, the DSWD also works to prevent and alleviate poverty. They provide a wide range of programs and services that have an impact on the lives of Filipinos from all walks of life.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• What is DSWD?
• What are the Benefits?
• What is the Mission?
• What is the Vision?
• What is Core Values
• What is DSWD Brand?
• Objectives
• What are the DSWD Programs and Services?
  • 1. Foster Care and Adoption
  • 2. BUB stands for Bottom-Up Budgeting
  • 3. Residential Care Facilities and Centers:
  • 4. Disaster Relief Operations
  • 5. Development and Gender
  • 6. International Social Welfare Services for Filipino Citizens (ISWSFN):
  • 7. NCDDP – Kalahi CIDSS
  • 8. Listahanan
  • 9. PAMANA
  • 10. Protective Services Program
  • 11. Recovery and Reintegration for Trafficked Persons Program (RRPTP):
  • 12. Supplemental Feeding Program
  • 13. Sustainable Livelihoods Program(SLP)
  • 14. The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4ps)
• Institutions and DSWD Centers
  • Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC)
  • Target Client
  • DSWD Programs and Services
• Documentary Requirements for Admission
• Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth (RRCY)
  • Treatment Interventions
• DSWD Regional Haven
  • Objective
  • Target Client
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Summary
• Contact Information

Overview

President Corazon C. Aquino’s Executive Order 123, issued in 1987, reformed the MSSD and renamed it the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Executive Order No. 292, also known as the Revised Administration Code of 1987, established the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) name, organizational structure, and functional areas of responsibility, as well as further defined its statutory authority.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the government agency in the Philippines in charge of developing and implementing social welfare and development programs.

What is DSWD?

The Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the executive branch of government in charge of ensuring Filipinos social welfare and development.

What are the Benefits?

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is, mandated by law with creating, administering, as well as implementing comprehensive social welfare programs aimed at improving the living conditions and empowering disabled children, youth, women, seniors, people with disabilities, families in crisis or at risk, and communities in need.

What is the Mission?

The following is the DSWD mission statement for the coming years. To take the lead in developing, implementing and coordinating social welfare and development policies and programs for and with the poor, vulnerable and disadvantages people.

What is the Vision?

The DSWD vision statement is as follows: The Department of Social Welfare and Development envisions a fair, just, and peaceful society in which all Filipinos are free of hunger and poverty and have equal access to opportunities.

What is Core Values

The DWD Core Values are as follows:

• Maagap at Mapagkalingang Serbisyo;
• Serbisyong Walang Puwang sa Katiwalian;
• Patas na Pagtrato sa Komunidad

What is DSWD Brand?

The DSWD Brand is “DSWD May Malasakit”.

Objectives

The DSWD goals are listed below.

• Assist service providers in improving their ability to manage cases involving individuals, families, groups, or communities.
• Create performance indicators to track and evaluate the effectiveness of social welfare and development programs, as well as their impact on cases under supervision.
• Facilitate interactive case management problem-solving with service providers on-site (LGU, NGO and DSWD).
• Improve worker/agency performance by providing or making technical assistance available to supervisory recipients.

Also Read: DSWD Directory of Central Offices

What are the DSWD Programs and Services?

Here is a list of DSWD programs and services:

1. Foster Care and Adoption

It is the permanent placement of a minor with a parent or parents other than the birth parents.

2. BUB stands for Bottom-Up Budgeting

Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) is a process that was piloted in 2013 and is now in its third cycle to ensure the implementation of key poverty reduction initiatives.

3. Residential Care Facilities and Centers:

These are 24-hour services that suggest an alternative family care arrangement to poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged individuals or families in crisis.

4. Disaster Relief Operations

It is both a life-saving emergency response and a long-term strategy.

5. Development and Gender

Gender refers to relationships between men and women, women and men, men and men, and boys and girls. Gender issues affect all aspects of development, and gender must be taken into account as the government develops, budgets, implements, monitors, and evaluates development policies, programs, and projects.

6. International Social Welfare Services for Filipino Citizens (ISWSFN):

ISWSFN is a program that encourages migratory Filipinos and other overseas Filipino nationals in need of special protection to seek assistance from Philippine embassies in their countries of travel.

7. NCDDP – Kalahi CIDSS

The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services: Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay (KALAHI-CIDSS: KKB) is a community-driven flagship development project of the government of the Philippines that aims to empower communities through direct participation in community projects aimed at reducing poverty. Its mission is to bring asset reforms, human development services, capacity building, and engagement in governance.

8. Listahanan

It is a data management system that determines who the poor are and where they are located throughout the country. It is managed by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

9. PAMANA

PAMANA, Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan Program aims to improve access to basic social services for underprivileged communities while also promoting responsive governance.

10. Protective Services Program

Through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and Assistance to Communities in Needs (ACN) programs, individuals, families, and communities in crisis or challenging situations, as well as vulnerable or disaster-affected communities, receive a variety of interventions.

11. Recovery and Reintegration for Trafficked Persons Program (RRPTP):

The Recovery and Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons (RRTP) is a comprehensive set of activities and services designed to meet the psychosocial and economic needs of the beneficiaries.

12. Supplemental Feeding Program

It is a government-sponsored initiative that provides food to children in addition to their regular meals as part of the DSWD’s ECCD program.

13. Sustainable Livelihoods Program(SLP)

The Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is a community-based capacity-building program aimed at improving program participants’ socioeconomic situation.

SLP is implemented using a two-track program. The first track is the Microenterprise Development Track, which assists microenterprises in becoming more organizationally and economically viable. Meanwhile, the second track, Employment Facilitation, assists participants in finding suitable employment opportunities.

14. The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4ps)

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, also known as the “4Ps,” is a human development program that invests in the health and education of low-income families, primarily those with children aged 0 to 18.

Institutions and DSWD Centers

Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC)

The Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC) is a 24-hour residential facility for children aged 0 to 6. Through temporary residential care, it provides protection and rehabilitation services to neglected, abandoned, mistreated, and exploited children, as well as children with special needs, such as children at risk and children in need of alternative family care.

It also offers appropriate and responsive social work intervention and assistance to address the growth and development, as well as the safety and security requirements of very young children who have been abused.

RSCC also aims to enhance the competency and effectiveness of its employees and service providers in case management, correct placement, and other child rehabilitation services.

Objective: To provide care and protection for neglected, dependent, and abandoned children aged 0 to 6, including those who have been abused or exploited, as well as those with special needs.

Target Client

The Reception and Study Center for Children serves children aged 0 to 6. These children fit into one of the following categories:

Abandoned/Neglected Children: These are children who have been abandoned by their parents and are being cared for by private individuals or institutions such as hospitals, clinics, or properly registered child caring or placement agencies.

Dependent Children: These are children who have no known relatives to whom they can be entrusted because their parents are temporarily disabled.

The inability of parents to care for their children may be caused by the following conditions:

• Due to a lack of financial resources, parents are temporarily unable to meet their children’s demands.
• The parent(s) must attend to urgent family matters and will be gone for an extended period of time.
• The parent(s) is currently in prison.
• The parent(s) is in the hospital or is otherwise unable to work.

Foundling: This applies to children who are left alone in public or private areas, such as the streets. These children are physically abused. There are moral, health, and environmental threats and risks on the streets

Orphaned Children – These are children who lack a family or relatives who can care for them.

Transnational: These are children aged 0 to 6 years old who are the children of a Filipino and a foreign national relationship.

Also Read : How to Apply for Solo Parent ID Application

DSWD Programs and Services

Adoption is a socio-legal process that finds a permanent home/family for a child who has been voluntarily committed or declared abandoned.

Educational Services: It is the provision of educational opportunities for children with special needs based on their capacity and needs through the delivery of formal and non-formal education, remedial programs, and socio-cultural services and activities.

Foster Care Services: It is a social work intervention in which a licensed foster family provides planned replacement parental care to a child when the child’s biological parents are temporarily unable to care for the child.

Health Services: It is the delivery of preventive and therapeutic interventions with the goal of promoting health and decreasing sickness and morbidity. Routine physical exams, vaccines, deworming, growth tracking, vitamin supplements, environmental health and sanitation, inpatient and outpatient consultations, dental and physical therapy are a few examples.

Home Life Services: Home Life Services strives to provide a welcoming environment for children to experience family life. It provides children with food, clothing, and shelter, as well as well-organized activities that provide a family-like experience to meet their physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual needs.

Legal Guardianship: It is a socio-legal procedure in which a child and his or her property are appointed to provide substitute parental care until the child reaches the age of majority.

Psychological Services: Abuse and neglect can have a long-term and significant impact on a child’s physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Children can cope with and overcome the impact of traumatic events and experiences by participating in psychological sessions. It entails conducting psychological assessments to assess a child’s personality and intellectual make-up in order to develop an appropriate treatment plan or therapy program.

Documentary Requirements for Admission

• Birth Certificate (if available)
• Case Summary
• Medical Abstract/Certificate
• Medico Legal- if sexually/physically abused
• Police/Barangay blotter and affidavit of finder or referring party if abandoned/foundling.
• Referral Letter

Also Read: DSWD Cash Assistance Processing of Crisis Intervention Unit

Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth (RRCY)

The RRCY is a residential facility designed to provide intensive therapy in a residential setting to Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL) whose sentences have been suspended. It provides a safe and supportive environment for trying to rehabilitate children.

While the RRCY provides CICL with institutional rehabilitation, the DSWD also provides community-based rehabilitation programs. The RRCY connects its center-based services to community-based programs or community-based programs created with the goal of intervention and diversion (from formal court procedures), as well as rehabilitation of the CICL for final reintegration into his family and community, whenever possible.

Objective: Treatment and rehabilitative programs are designed to improve the psychological, emotional, and psychosocial well-being of Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL).

Target Client: The target client is a CICL male between the ages of 15 and 18, who has committed an offence and has been sentenced to rehabilitation at the DSWD facility by the court (RRCY)

The court may order CICL serving a suspended sentence to participate in any or all of the disposition measures that are appropriate for their rehabilitation and well-being.

NO CHILD SHALL BE ADMITTED INTO ANY REHABILITATION FACILITY WITHOUT A VALID COURT ORDER ISSUED AFTER A HEARING FOR THIS PURPOSE. (sec. 45, RA 9344)

Programs and Services: The RRCY provides CICL with a well-balanced, orderly, and non-formal home setting and group living arrangement.

CICL are also given the opportunity to earn money and save for the future by participating in income-generating activities. Specifically, CICL is given the following:

Support Services and Interventions

• Educational Services: This requires the formation and implementation of a comprehensive plan that provides a learning environment and opportunities for each client.
• Health Services: Included in this is the provision of appropriate medical care to clients.
• Home life Services: This creates a home-like environment for the clients, encouraging moral development.
• Psychological Services: It entails a thorough and evaluation of the child’s personality and behaviour, as well as psychological evaluation and testing in collaboration with cooperating organizations
• Recreational Programs: Taking up a hobby or developing a creative talent, such as athletics, singing, dancing, or playing instruments, can be used as a coping strategy and an alternative activity to help individuals feel more competent, self-worth, and sense of identity.
• Social Services: Professional assistance was provided to the CICL in charge of the RRCY 24 hours a day, seven days a week. From admission to release, this includes therapies aimed at restoring/developing clients’ social functioning and preparing them for reintegration into their families.
• Spiritual Enhancement Program: Regular religious services and activities are held.

Treatment Interventions

• Behavioral Modification
• Counseling Services
• Milieu Therapy
• Therapeutic Community

DSWD Regional Haven

The DSWD-Regional Haven is a center-based facility that provides vulnerable, impoverished, and abused women with protective custody and psychological care.

Through a team of social workers, psychologists, house parents, and other professionals who work with clients to create a loving environment in which trust, self-esteem, and healing can develop, DSWD-Regional Haven provides a steady stream of basic services.

Objective

Victims of violence, abuse, or exploitation should be protected and receive effective intervention and rehabilitation services.

Target Client

Women and girls aged 7 to 17, as well as women aged 18 to 59, are the target demographic. These are as follows:

• Abandoned / Neglected: Girls (minors) who have been abandoned by their family or relatives due to hardship.
• Battered / Abused: Women and girls who have been physically, psychologically, or emotionally abused for a variety of reasons.
• Victims of Illegal Recruitment: Women who were recruited for various types of local or international work, usually for free, but were then mistreated.
• Victim of Involuntary / Forced Prostitution: Women and girls who have been recruited for various jobs but are forced to prostitution themselves.
• Others – These are standees who are looking for long-lost relatives or who are in a crisis and need immediate professional assistance.

Also Read: DSWD Medical Assistance AICS Cash Aid

Programs and Services

Survival and Protection Services

After Care Services: It is viewed as a continuation of the rehabilitation process in the community following discharge from the center

Character Building Program: This program encourages the formation and strengthening of values and characters by focusing on desirable characteristics. This aids in the development of sound decisions based on universal fundamental principles.

Family Counseling: This focuses on assisting the client’s family members in dealing with fears, frustrations, and trauma, among other things, as well as strengthening their family’s ability to solve their problem.

Food, Nutrition, and Health Services: It provides adequate nutrition and meals to people in order to maintain their health.

Home life Services: The client is introduced to a home-like setting that promotes moral development.

Legal Services: This will help residents during court hearings and other legal issues.

Medical Services: This includes providing appropriate medical care to clients..

Psychological / Psychiatric Services: It entails a thorough examination and evaluation of the child’s personality and behaviour in collaboration with other organizations that use psychological evaluation and testing.

Recreational Programs – Individuals might utilize developing a hobby or creative talent, such as athletics, singing, dancing, or playing instruments, as a coping mechanism and an alternative activity to make them feel more competent, self-worth, and sense of identity.

Social Services – Women and children in Particularly Difficult Circumstances (WEDC / CEDC) in care at the Regional Haven receive social assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This includes interventions aimed at restoring and developing clients’ social functioning from the time they are admitted to the time they are released, as well as preparing them for reintegration into their families.

Spiritual Enhancement Program – Religious services and activities are held on a regular basis.

Development and Participation Services
Educational Services – This involves creating and implementing a detailed plan that provides a learning environment and opportunities for each client.

Individual and Group Counseling – It helps residents improve their interpersonal relationships while also making them more aware of their flaws and abilities.
Productivity and Skills Training – This programme aims to teach and improve client skills in order to prepare them for a self-sufficient life.

Spiritual Services and Value Formation – This factor requires consistency in assisting clients from and by specific religious groups with their spiritual needs.

Sports, Creative Arts, and Recreational Activities – It is a coping technique and alternative activity that aims to foster feelings of competence, self-worth, and identity through the development of a passion or creative talent such as athletics, singing, dancing, or playing instruments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions and answers about the DSWD office:

Please keep in mind that the ReliefAgad mobile application is only available to those who have been issued a Social Amelioration Card (SAC).

Summary

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the executive branch of government in charge of guaranteeing the social welfare and development of Filipinos.

The DSWD’s name, organizational structure, and functional areas of responsibility were established by the Revised Administration Code of 1987, also known as DSWD Executive Order No. 292. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is mandated by law to create, administer, and carry out comprehensive social welfare program aimed at improving the living conditions of disadvantaged children, youth, women, seniors, people with disabilities, and underserved communities.

Contact Information

• DSWD Office
• Address: DSWD Building, Constitution Hills, Batasan Complex, Quezon City
• E-mail address: inquiry@dswd.gov.ph
• Telephone Number: (632) 931-8101 to 07
• Website: http://www.dswd.gov.ph/
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dswdserves

Ref: The data for this article has been compiled from DSWD government website.