By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz Not only do carols and decors signify that Christmas holidays are drawing near, but the proliferation of street children is also becoming more evident in urban areas, such as Metro Manila, during the yuletide season. Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Acting Secretary Virginia Orogo (PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN) As such, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is appealing to the public to extend responsible help to street children instead of giving them alms, which encourages them to further roam the streets, putting their lives at risk. "Alms-giving is not the kind of help that street children need, as this will only keep them on the streets and expose them to more danger. What they need is responsible help from us," DSWD Secretary Virginia Orogo said. The Secretary shared that the Department’s advocacy project, the #HelptheHomelessPH campaign, encourages the public to work together and converge all resources to find appropriate strategies and extend responsible help to street dwellers. "While we discourage alms-giving, we encourage the public to share their time and resources to our street children through our HelptheHomelessPH campaign. For instance, they can carry out small reach-out activities and gift-giving events, conduct story-telling or art sessions, or organize feeding programs and medical missions for the street kids in their communities," she added. Orogo said the public may also partner with the DSWD through the Silungan sa Barangay, a project the department will soon launch for street children and homeless families. "Our Silungan sa Barangay project aims to give a temporary home or a ‘silungan’ that will serve as a learning and livelihood center for children and families at risk on the streets. Those who want to help our street dwellers may sponsor a ‘silungan’ that will provide a venue for the convergence of holistic services from different groups for our homeless kababayans," she said. According to DSWD Community Programs and Services Bureau OIC Director Rosalie Dagulo, the local government has the primary role to look after street children. "It is the LGUs that have the primary mandate to look after street dwellers, but the DSWD continues to look for solutions and engages the local government units in projects and interventions that would help respond to this problem," Dagulo said. She also clarified that children on the streets cannot just be brought immediately to government centers. "We need to know if the child has parents or guardians and if the kid still has a house he can go home to. The state will only enter if the family doesn’t have the capacity to fulfill its responsibility," she said. According to Dagulo, DSWD can also assist the local government units in assessing the children for temporary alternative family care. They can be placed in the accredited agencies and licensed foster families of the Department. The DSWD can also facilitate the adoption of the children.