Children who have survived sexual violence and are left without parents must be provided with care immediately, a child rights advocacy group said Thursday.

“Children who may not be able to complain, voice out their feelings or avoid conversations about their experience of abuses are the most vulnerable and may be undergoing distress,” Center for the Prevention and Treatment for Child Sexual Abuse (CPTCSA) executive director Zenaida Rosales said in a media forum.

She noted that care for these children is a pressing issue, saying their needs are unique particularly when facilitators or perpetrators of sexual abuse are their parents.

“So it is very challenging for social workers and other care providers in determining where to return these children when they are ready to go home,” she added.

According to CPTCSA, one third of Filipino children have or will experience some form of molestation or sexual violence before they reach the age of 18.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that around 33.4 million or 30.7 percent of the country’s population are children under 15 years old as of Aug. 12, 2022.

In 2020, an online child protection survey by End Child Prostitution and Trafficking showed that 40 percent of child respondents connected with strangers through social media.

About 30 percent have received sexual materials though social media sites and 50 percent who may have experienced sexual violence exploitation did not report any incidence.

Kinship care

Rosales said institutions are not the best place when it comes to long term intervention for children who are victims of sexual violence.

“They must be returned to a healthy and a family environment set up because according to studies children will recover faster, easily recover from trauma when they are in a family set up. Therefore, we really need to explore now how we can strengthen kinship care together with foster care in the country,” she said.

Council for the Welfare (CWC) of Children Executive Director Undersecretary Angelo Tapales said kinship care is mentioned in the Republic Act 11642 or Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Childcare Act.

“Something that we haven’t discussed extensively and when you go to the implementing rules and regulations, kinship care is further defined as kinship or relative foster care, it means full-time care by the relative of a child by family members within the fourth consanguinity degree,” he said.

The CPTCSA conducted the forum on kinship care in partnership with the CWC, KNH Philippines, Go-Just, Mission Alliance ACTVE and Family for Every Child Global Alliance.

The forum urges the government to explore the benefits of kinship care in response to sexual violence on children while strengthening policies against perpetrators who have invaded online spaces, committing physical transactional sex and other forms of sexual violence. (PNA)