A central element of COF’s services is its protection program. COF’s Protection Program is vital to providing an integrated medical and social safety net for the most at-risk children, mothers and women in the migrant community.
The Protection Program contributes to longer term stability in the migrant community around Sangkhalburi as these services mean families and single mothers are supported to stay in the area and to potentially find safe, non-exploitative work, while their children can access stable on-going education. The Protection Program wraps the following services, provided by experienced and qualified COF staff, around the migrant children, mothers and families in the Sangkhlaburi area that we work with:
COF Medical Clinic: Inpatient & Outpatient Services (average 15 cases/day)
- Onsite essential medical services for children and mothers resident at COF and in the wider migrant community
- Support for stateless migrant women in giving birth in a registered Thai hospital, also helping secure birth certificates for the children (at least 40 cases per year)
- Support for migrant women in giving birth in emergency cases at Thai hospitals
- Referrals and transport assistance in other serious medical cases and emergencies to access hospitals in Sangkhlaburi town and Kanchanaburi province
- Covid-19 screening temperature checks for all children and adults coming and going from the project
- Outreach visits by COF medical staff to children and mothers requiring further assistance in the community
- Education and assistance for family planning
- Full-time trained medic and health program supervisor (14 years’ experience)
- Assistant medic and assistant health program supervisor (4 years’ experience)
Outreach Support (for 50 families and 30 single mothers)
- Support program for families in need with children
- Rice, Oil, Beans, Salt
- Milk for mothers of infants unable to provide their own milk due to medical issues, illness or severe malnourishment
- Locating out-of-school children and bringing them into appropriate education
- Follow up visits to at-risk children and single mothers who are accessing COF services
Mother and Child program (for 15 mothers and 45 children)
- Onsite and community shelters for single mothers with accompanying children
- Medical checks for mothers and children
- Practical assistance with food, toiletries, cooking equipment
- Children enrolled in schools
- Empowerment workshops for mothers
- Training in children’s health, nutrition, contraception, water, sanitation and food hygiene
- Vocational training – vegetable, fish and mushroom farming, cooking, broom making, sewing and weaving
Counselling and Social Services
- Available to all mothers and children through the COF Health Program
- Individual, family and group counselling sessions
- Includes mother-baby bonding, confidence and self-esteem, basic money management, planning for future
- Qualified counselor with 7 years’ experience
Social Work
- Social worker (former COF student returned to work at COF having completed a University degree in social work)
- Negotiating language barrier and bureaucracy in Thai medical system for migrant mothers
- Administration for hospital referral cases, mother and child cases
- Ongoing assistance for Thai ID applications for those eligible in the program
- Liaison with government agencies regarding education, health and social welfare issues
- Monthly summary of Health Program activities for all staff
- Follow-up with outreach cases