Redirecting Paths: A Diversion Program for Children in Conflict with the Law

Abstract

This study was conducted using descriptive qualitative approach, where the researcher re
told the stories or narratives of 5 Children in Conflict with the Law (CICLs) who underwent and
finished the Diversion Program to describe how the said diversion program helped with the
development and transformation of each CICL. The informants of the study were CICLs who had
finished their diversion programs within six months or two years. Other informants were the
family or guardian of the CICL and the Barangay Women's Desk Officers who were in charge of
monitoring the development of the CICL and their families at the barangay level. The study
concluded that the experiences and learnings gained by the CICLs during their Diversion
Program helped them to change their perspective, develop a positive outlook in life, and regain
their self-trust and confidence which contributed to their positive development and
transformation into good and functional members of society. The child's environment is one of
the major contributing factors to the behavior and development of the child, together with the
child's relationship to his/her family and community. With the help of the diversion program,
every CICL had a chance to redirect his path for a better and brighter future. However, despite
the effectiveness of the diversion program, there were still some issues encountered during the
implementation like the lack of preparedness of the barangay and the community to plan and
conduct preventive and rehabilitation programs for the youth. The lack of social workers in the
City to handle CICL cases, which made it challenging to monitor the development of every child
especially during the pandemic. Furthermore, it is recommended that the government in
collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations must strengthen the advocacy in the
protection of children's rights ensuring that they are protected and their needs are being met
and provided for, to prevent these children from becoming CICLs in the future. The researcher
also recommends the conduct of future study on CICLs inside reformation facilities or Bahay
Pag-asa to also give light to their stories and journey towards transformation and development, and to give compare the effectiveness of diversion programs inside the facility and community
based diversion programs.
KEYWORDS – Children in Conflict with the Law, Diversion Program, Barangay Women's Desk
Officers, Children's Rights, Transformation and Development, Barangay Council for the
Protection of Children (BCPC)