Love, care, and hope for a new beginning await even more children with the relaunch of the Bantay Bata 163 Children’s Village this year.
(From left): Acting City Government Assistant Department Head III Maribel Cayco; Social Service Development Department Head Fe Macale; Quezon City Administrator Aldrin Cuna; ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc. (ALKFI) Chairman Eugenio Lopez III; Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista; ALKFI Managing Director Susan Afan; Bantay Bata 163 Program Director Jing Castaneda – Velasco and ALKFI Chief Finance and Services Officer Lita Lara at the MOA signing for the financial assistance from the Quezon City government to shoulder the operational and maintenance expenses of the Bantay Bata 163 Children’s Village.
Bantay Bata 163’s halfway house for rescued children has served as a home for over a thousand of young Filipinos since 2003, providing them a shelter where they can heal and recover from trauma of abuse and exploitation, and build a better future for themselves.
With improved facilities and an enhanced program, the Children’s Village is now more equipped to help victims of child abuse become more resilient and empowered members of our community.
Jing Castaneda-Velasco, Bantay Bata 163 program director, said the Children’s Village, which is located in Norzagaray, Bulacan, can house and provide holistic healing for at least 120 abused children through physical and psychological means, in a structured, therapeutic family-like environment. Social workers, health care professionals, and house parents will look over the children in the complex, which has an administrative building, multi-purpose hall, and cottages, where children stay.
The Village also has a meditation room, music room, arts and crafts room, and library. It also has an in-house kindergarten play area for pre-schoolers, while older children go to nearby schools.
Bantay Bata 163 will also equip older children with necessary life skills in preparation of their reintegration to the society through new programs like the Resilience Program, Productivity Skills Training and Livelihood Development Program. Values Formation support will also be given to parents and families of the abused children to help them heal and move forward as well.