(CNN Philippines) — The mother who posted photos of her child on a leash will have to undergo psychological assessment and counseling before the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) decides whether to file a case against her or not.
The now-deleted Facebook post that went viral showed three photos of a toddler, stripped of all clothes, down on all fours, leashed, and eating from a shallow bowl placed on the cold, hard cement floor.
The Facebook photos were captioned: “Bago ko nga pa lang alagang aso, ha ha. Lakas ng tama ng anak ko, sunod-sunuran naman. Ang dami kong tawa dito grabe.”
[Translation: My new pet dog, ha ha. My child’s so weird, but he’s such a pushover. This really made me laugh a lot.]
DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman gave instructions for the counseling of the parents of the child to remind them of their responsibilities as parents.
This came after the child’s mother admitted that the incident was done in jest.
“It is a parent’s primary responsibility to protect and uphold the dignity of their child. It is ironic that she did that to her own child,” Sec. Soliman explained.
On Tuesday (May 26), the DSWD office in Orani, Bataan rescued the toddler from the family.
Upon rescue, the child was taken to the district hospital for medical check-up. The medical results found that the child is healthy and did not sustain bruises from the incident.
The child is currently under the temporary custody of the DSWD-Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC) in Pampanga.
The child will remain at the RSCC until such time that psychologists from the DSWD establish the capability of the parents to take care of their child.
Sec. Soliman asked for the psychological assessment of the child’s immediate family to know if the family members had any sense of the wrongness of the act and why they participated in it.
The result of the psychological assessment will guide the DSWD’s decisions on the custody of the child and on whether a case should be filed against the mother.
