Author: MOHAMMED RASOOLDEENFri, 2017-03-17ID: 1489695473055151100RIYADH: The Ministry of Labor and Social Development on Wednesday said it has provided family advice in 4,840 cases in the past three years, eighty percent of counseling were for women.The ministry has established a family education center in Riyadh to deal with social issues that Saudis may face, and offer solutions according to Saudi tradition. It has provided a toll-free hotline, 8001245005, to take complaints about family problems. The ministry has also sought to develop the services of support and family counseling centers in the Kingdom, as per the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020.The move aims to create a full-fledged system for social protection, and to help those who need counseling, via specialized teams that will function according to international standards.The ministry has started implementing an initiative that lays out standards for family advisers and family education centers. It has also studied a mechanism to license and train professional counselors and connect centers electronically, as it plans to assign the centers to the private sector. The ministry will increase the number of social workers to 21,000, and that of family education centers and social protection units to 200 by 2020, which will help reduce the number of divorce cases and family disputes.The initiatives are taken in partnership with the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, and 18 other government agencies.A total of 755 initiatives focus on economic, social and development issues, and are expected to contribute to the transformation of the Kingdom into the digital age, enhance public-private partnerships (PPP), generate job opportunities and expand local content.The ministry said Saudi citizens and residents can report domestic violence or abuse against children by telephoning 1919, e-mailing 1919@mlsd.gov.sa, faxing 0112927742, or visiting one of the ministry’s social protection units in various regions of the Kingdom.The center’s teams are tasked with receiving reports on abuse or negligence, studying and classifying these reports, offering services along with investigation, and providing a follow-up number to the person who initiated the report, as well as using SMS for updates, said the ministry.
Main category: Saudi Arabia
July 26, 2024
