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)