Since 2012, CESTUR has rescued 1,700 children in tourist areas

Santo Domingo (EFE) .- From 2012 to date, the Specialized Body of Tourist Security (CESTUR) has rescued 1,700 children and adolescents who wander through tourist sites, victims of social exclusion and at risk of abuse, the Presidency reported in a statement this Saturday.

This work is carried out thanks to the support of the National Council for Children (CONANI), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Office of the First Lady, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health, among other institutions that join efforts devoted to better lives for children.

The program, which began in the Colonial City, will soon be extended to Boca Chica and Puerto Plata, where the CESTUR will carry out patrol work and identify the profile of children and adolescents who are exposed to the risk of being mistreated.

The protocol assumes that, after identification, each child is given a history to identify the reasons why he or she is on the streets and their scholastic, physical, and mental levels are evaluated.

If the minors have a family, they are delivered by means of legal certification and, in case the children return to the streets, they proceed to submit their parents to the Office of Children and Adolescents.

If the children are homeless, they are sent to the CONANI, an institution that provides a permanent place where they can live according to the note.

Through the program, children in vulnerable conditions receive psychological attention, training in the arts, computer science, the English language; and participate in excursions to museums and camps. EFE