YAKAP

The second program for children and young people, named for kalinga, alaga at pag-asa: care, nurture and hope.

Yakap is Filipino for an embrace. The program’s full name is Youth Assistance through Kalinga, Alaga at Pag-asa: assistance for young people through care, nurture and hope.

YAKAP is the Foundation’s second program for children and youth. Mr. Jeffrey P. Jumarang of the Board of Directors presented it alongside the KIDS Program to mothers and children at the Foundation’s briefing and orientation in July 2026.

The Foundation’s founding document describes what a mother’s detention does to a child beyond the classroom. Children face emotional distress, weakened care at home, social stigma, and fewer of the opportunities healthy development needs. The Foundation works with children on both fronts, through KIDS and YAKAP.

Children in this situation are often left with relatives who have little to spare, or moved into unstable homes, at the ages when they most need steady care. The Foundation’s view is that without timely help, the risks of dropping out of school, neglect, trauma and exclusion all grow. YAKAP is named for the three things it sets against those risks.

The name

Kalinga

Care, of the kind that protects.

Alaga

Nurture: looking after someone, day by day.

Pag-asa

Hope.

The Founder put the idea behind it plainly in her message to the families at the orientation: every child should feel that they are safe, that they are understood, and that they are loved. When there is love and support, she said, children are better able to dream.

Read the Founder’s message in full

What it responds to

• Emotional distress during a mother’s detention
• Care at home weakened by the separation
• Social stigma
• Fewer opportunities for healthy development

What the research says about children with a parent in detention