A total of 50 social workers from various local government units (LGUs) and child-caring agencies in the CALABARZON Region had been provided with technical assistance by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through a training on strengthened case management, particularly with regards to alternative family care for children.

The said social workers are from the provinces of Cavite, Quezon and Rizal who were trained in two batches from September 16-30, 2015.

This training is provided in response to the findings of the agency in the assessment of the functionality of the local social welfare and development offices conducted last year. Findings of the assessment indicate that majority of the staff of the LGUs have low case management skills, especially for cases pertaining on children.

According to Ms. Lanie Tabios, social worker under Adoption Resource and Referral Section of the DSWD Field Office IV-A, the strengthened case management training also promoted good relationships between the LGUs and child-caring agencies, which, in turn, will help provide better services to children at the local level.

Besides these trained social workers, 120 more social workers from the provinces of Laguna and Batangas will be given the same kind of training by November 2015.

The DSWD continuously provides technical assistance to LGUs in the improvement of the delivery of services to the clients and in ensuring functionality of the LGUs in the provision of social services. This is part of the strategic goals of the Department in increasing the number of provinces with majority of its cities and municipalities having fully-functional local social welfare and development offices by 2016.#