Stairway Denmark has agreed to help the 15 police stations in Manila to organise office environment suitable for interviewing children in connection with violence and abuse. According to Stairway DK there is need for cozy rooms with friendly colors and toys for children to feel safe. Stairway has offered to paint and decorate the rooms, and also train and educate the police officers in charge of interrogations.
Stairway Denmark is a part of Stairway Foundation Inc., a non-stock, non-profit, non-government child care organisation located in Puerto Galera, Philippines.
It was established in 1990 by Lars C. Jorgensen and Monica D. Ray as an alternative program for the most marginalised and endangered street children in the Philippines.
Especially in cases of sexual abuse, there is a need for anatomically correct dolls, then dolls with genitalia so that the affected children can show what they have been exposed to by playing with dolls.
According to Stairway Danmark, such dolls are available in the market but come in very expensive prices. Stairway has developed and made a series of dolls that represent a family with father, mother, children, grandparents and an uncle.
Local women are now being trained to sew the dolls which Stairways will be able to supply to hundreds of police stations and child care centers in the near future.
The project is just one small part of the increasingly close cooperation between Stairway and the police.
From this year, Stairway will be training all new police officers across the country, almost 17,000 cadets annually, on how to handle delicate matters such as children’s rights and prevention of sexual abuse. This is a unique collaboration that has been under construction for several years.
Information about the Stairways Denmark can be found here: http://www.stairwaydanmark.dk
