The Hand to Hand Foundation works very closely with the officers from social welfare, the police, the mayor and other government departments to help support the poor and at-risk in the community.
Our staff often attend monthly meetings at Pattaya City Hall when cases of neglect are being investigated and discussed by the social welfare officers so that help and resources at our disposal can be utilized.
A project to write a child protection policy for Pattaya City was completed in 2014 under the leadership of Hand to Hand. Government officers and school administrators worked for a period of 8 months to write and refine the policy, which has now been implemented by order of the education department. The policy provides protection for both children and adults and has created a comprehensive reporting format for all schools.
Margie is chair person of the International Child Protection Network (ICPN) which meets 3-4 times in Bangkok at the British embassy. The role of this group is to help NGO’s and government agencies share knowledge and resources to create better support services for the community. Recently the ICPN group was asked to assist with the writing of the ‘Violence against Children’ policy for the new ASEAN community.