There are 220 children in this government run center from one day old to 7 years old.  There is a special cottage that takes care of 1 day to 1 year old babies.  Many of the young girls have been sexual abused.  Among the high profile cases, (all of them printed in the newspapers) all within a span of 2 months are:

1.  the case of the child who was born in the bathroom of an airplane arriving in the Philippines from the Middle East.  After the baby was born, she was flushed in the toilet.  The mother left immediately.  Fortunately, another passenger used the same comfort room, found the baby stuck in the lavatory and called the stewardess. 

2. the case of another overseas worker who gave birth before leaving for Taiwan in our airport.  Gave birth to the baby in the bathroom, cut the umbilical cord and left the bathroom.  The janitress in the airport found the baby after a few minutes and was resuscitated.

3. the case of the baby who was left in shoebox in a garbage dump and was found by children who were playing nearby.

Diapers and milk are needed to care for these children.  We do not have photos because it is a very sensitive center

The Child and Adolescent Section of the National Center for Mental Health are divided into out-patient and in-patient units. 

The focus of this project is on the in-patient pavilions where patients stay for months to years depending on whether they have families or not or if they can go home to after they have been stabilized. The in-patient area is further divided into a male pavilion accommodating up to 40 patients and a female pavilion up to 30 patients.  These pavilions accept children and adolescents aged 18 years old and below (youngest is 8 years old). 
These patients suffer from different psychiatric diagnoses. One third of patients have unknown backgrounds, brought to the center by concerned citizens and have nowhere to go home to. Some patients came from the provinces.

The goal of the facility is to improve the living conditions of the patients, provide a holistic approach to the treatment and management to patients and be the best facility for patients as they recuperate in the center by providing a milieu therapeutic to their mental and emotional stabilization while we continue to look for the families of those who have been abandoned. 

$5,000 will pay for a playground fenced off with chicken wire boundary a few meters from the perimeter of the pavilion, a basketball court, a gazebo for group therapy, poles and net for volleyball, repainting of playground set or additional set of playground (swing set, monkey bars, and seesaw) equipment.

$5,000 will pay for the repair of kitchen cupboards and cabinets, repair of the linen room and nurse’s station ceilings as they leak, installation of a sound system for music therapy effective to soothe patients with seizure disorders, sturdy ceiling fans for ventilation in the wards, division of our isolation room to accommodate at least two disturbed patients, painting of the facility,  computers with printer for the two pavilions for patient database and books for the elementary and high school.

This Orphanage is located in Pampanga, a 1 1/2 hour car ride from Metro Manila.   The Province of Pampanga is known as the former site of the American Air Force Base in the Pacific, Clark Field in Angeles, Pampanga. 

The orphanage is home to 80 very special children who are either mentally handicapped, paraplegic or victims of polio.  30% of the orphans are mentally disabled.

There is a lack of funding and the facility is under staffed.  There are not enough beds, mattresses, pillows, blankets, linen, diapers, food and milk. Washing machines are overused since children, especially the mentally disabled children, defecate and urinate without any control.  Some of the male children sleep in cottages with wooden beds, without pillows and blankets, and without electric fans.  Diapers are in short supply.  Food and milk is insufficient.  Children are thin and lack proper nutrition. 

The Little House of the Nazareth does not refuse children, especially if they are abandoned and mentally disabled.  The policy of the Head Social Worker is that the abandoned children must not stay in the streets and that they will provide a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs.

 
There is not enough money in the budget as there are too many children in the center.  The Department of Social Welfare and Department (DSWD) supervises this institution and it is run by the Diocese of Pampanga.   Aside from the meager government budget, the center relies on Good Samaritans to help maintain the center.