Bangkok's Slum Child Care Center by Kiara Malone on Tues, Jan 10

Today’s visit at the Slum Child Care center was by far my favorite site tour. This center embodies the spirit of social services taking care of the community. Incorporating home visits in their services is a great way to actually learn more about each child’s family. Giving parents the opportunity to be held accountable to the outcome of their children’s lives seems to be the basics of these home visits. I loved the idea of not really allowing parents that actually need more guidance in parenting to hide things from the center. In the parenting program that I work in, parents have the opportunity to put on a show for me but behind closed doors they may not be doing what they tell us they are doing. Thought we hope that the parents we work with are doing their all to maintain and create healthy relationships with their kids as they are going through the custody battles but there is an element that we will never know which is the actual environment of the home. The employees of the program are able to get to know the families that they work with in a much more personal setting. I’m sure that its effectiveness is relevant due to the mere human to human contact that happens. It’s not a program that people are just looking to be paid or feel like they are just “helping out”. The passion for this kind of work must be present in order for there to be results.

Employing women in the slum community was also a great approach to the center, so not only are they uplifting these women by helping them learn how to parent their children but also giving them the opportunity to gain employment skills and an income they may not have had. Being a member of the community and learning how to take care of it they are developing the leaders of tomorrow. So when the founders are no longer running the program they are grooming people that know the system from the inside out to take over. I appreciate Thailand for bring to the fore front of my mind the idea of bringing things full circle. Apart of my career goals is to open a non-profit that can be a resource center for families that are living in urban areas and have financial limitations. I would want areas such as counseling, support groups, awareness workshops, legal services, education development, and career training to be incorporated in the center. It is my hopes to bring individuals in the community full circle in their path to becoming a part of a society that can look forward to a positive future.