Philippines

Our work in the Philippines was inspired by David Bradley’s long-term commitment to the country. In 1977-1978, David served as a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines, living with a family in Manila and teaching economics at a local university.

In 1994, CityBridge sent a small research team to Manila to study that city’s street children:  Why were there so many homeless children? What were their needs? How could a small American nonprofit make a difference in their lives? The resulting 1997 study, Children at Risk: Research Findings from Manila, found that unidentified child abuse was a significant cause of homelessness for children. Little infrastructure existed to diagnose, refer, and treat children suffering from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in their homes.

CityBridge worked with model programs in the United States and local experts in Manila to design a state-of-the-art Child Protection Unit (CPU) at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine/Philippine General Hospital in Manila. Intended as a full-service treatment center for abused children, and the first center of its kind in the country, the CPU has been led by Dr. Bernadette Madrid since its opening in 1997. Today the CPU is the center of a larger network of 25 child protection units at hospitals all over the country, with staff that have been trained and/or certified at the unit in Manila. Since its inception, the Manila site alone has treated more than 8,000 children and family members.

The CPU’s methodology of care is based on clinical standards for immediate treatment and social work intervention for long-term solutions. Following diagnosis and treatment, the CPU team assigns a case manager to each child and develops an individualized, long-term safety plan. Once a child enters the CPU network, he or she stays a part of the network’s tracking system, receiving regular monitoring and care or intervention as needed. The children may reintegrate with families, find appropriate shelters, or become part of an adoptive family. This holistic approach has proven successful: Fewer than 2% of children treated at the CPU are referred for a subsequent episode of abuse. In addition to providing world-class care to patients and families, the CPU Network has become the training ground for dozens of professionals in the field.