Assistance Experience Sharing
- Experience Sharing 01There’s an often-quoted saying that goes, “help the starving but not the poor”. Emergency relief is a virtuous act that receives recognition from all, reflecting the breadth of the aid provided. However, it cannot fundamentally reverse the situation of the case families in need. After temporary relief from a single round of assistance, these families often revert to their difficult starting point. The Foundation identifies eligible families for short, medium, and long-term assistance to aid them in their efforts to “step-by-step escape poverty” or “achieve financial self-sufficiency and move out of poverty.” Although not all of them can become financially independent, the chance of escaping poverty is greatly increased. This is the depth of relief, so the Foundation is “help the starving and the poor”, and the breadth and depth of relief are both covered.
- Experience Sharing 02The Foundation's primary assessment focuses on the family's “ability to cope with emergencies” and “values.” Therefore, we first validate the real situation of the emergency and the associated expenses as the basic foundation, and then assess the family's ability to cope with emergencies based on their income, assets, support from family and friends, and other factors. We also evaluate the family's honesty, proactivity, living expenses, adjustments made in response to changing circumstances, and other aspects to assess their ingrained “values.” After comprehensive consideration, we conduct a final review. Our organization has computerized the assessment of “emergencies”, expenses, and “ability to cope with emergencies” in order to seek consistent assessment standards.
- Experience Sharing 03The Foundation provides one-time, multiple, short-term, medium-term, and long-term relief assistance and 10 diversified services that can be combined with each other to form a holistic assistance plan. The combination of these services depends on the actual needs of the family in need, to form a safety net for the family from different perspectives.
- Experience Sharing 04The client is undergoing cancer treatment with electrochemotherapy and chemotherapy, and is generally unable to work and is in a period of pain and weakness. We will generally devote more resources to help those who have passed the assessment.
- Experience Sharing 05The family has just had a major emergency, such as a serious car accident, stroke, etc., resulting in brain injury or other traumatic injuries and illnesses, and the family is panicking and busy coping with the situation. We will generally devote more resources to help those who have passed the assessment, but in the long term they may still need to rely on government licenses and related resources.
- Experience Sharing 06The family has just had a major emergency, such as a serious car accident, stroke, etc., resulting in brain injury or other traumatic injuries and illnesses, and the family is panicking and busy coping with the situation. We will generally devote more resources to help those who have passed the assessment, but in the long term they may still need to rely on government licenses and related resources.
- Experience Sharing 07The family has just had a major emergency, such as a serious car accident, stroke, etc., resulting in brain injury or other traumatic injuries and illnesses, and the family is panicking and busy coping with the situation. We will generally devote more resources to help those who have passed the assessment, but in the long term they may still need to rely on government licenses and related resources.
- Experience Sharing 08Students selected for assistance must have above-average grades, and their academic aptitude must be considered positive. We evaluate their behavior, filial piety, performance at home and school, and other aspects. During the period of assistance, our case investigators will also encourage academic progress, provide reminders on daily conduct, and offer career counseling.
- Experience Sharing 09When it is deemed that the case family values the resources and goodwill of society and passes the assessment process, more assistance will be provided as appropriate.
- Experience Sharing 10Understanding the life experiences of the case family can help us dive into the root causes for their difficulties, their values and financial values on money, etc. In addition to assisting in case assessment, it is worthwhile to spend a short time to learn about the ups and downs of another person's life story. It can be used as a reference and reflection for one's own life, and can also increase mutual understanding in the situation of “cold call,” bringing people closer together.
- Experience Sharing 11Validate the veracity of the information about the family seeking assistance, for example, through written proofs, asking the referral unit, asking the village or borough chief, asking the government or non-government social welfare organizations, inquiring about the “Happy Care Network Emergency Relief Platform” (幸福守護網急難救助平台), visiting the family in person, etc. When it comes to some unverifiable information, we rely on our past handling experience to judge and choose whether to believe the family or not. Occasionally, choosing to believe has helped many families. However, if we later find out that the information was untrue, we cannot say that helping them was wrong, because we had to verify and confirm that they were in need before providing assistance. We can only say that we have gained a deeper understanding of “human nature” through such experiences.
- Experience Sharing 12When engaging in emergency assistance work, the greatest achievement is when the families can become self-sufficient and return to society through their own efforts. But when the client dies, it is the most heartbreaking thing. Furthermore, when serving poor and families in need, the negative emotions accumulated over a long period of time make social workers become a high-risk group for vicarious trauma.
- Experience Sharing 13We believe that it is necessary to conduct home visits to maintain a relaxed atmosphere during the home visits, so that the case investigator can engage and interact with the client, and also talk more about the family profile with other family members. By naturally expressing our care and concern during the conversation, the family can feel our warmth. Moreover, the case investigator can gain a better understanding of the family's living environment and situation, and can empathize with their difficulties. In a relaxed atmosphere, the investigator can “obtain the necessary information through conversation and find answers to the problems through care and concern.”
- Experience Sharing 14We will collect information about the family before the home visit. If members are afflicted by infectious diseases, aggressive mental illnesses, or have past records of criminal cases involving bodily injury to others, etc., we will not arrange a home visit and will use telephone visits instead. If the case investigator believes there is an unclear safety concern, two people can visit together. If the case investigator thinks there is an unsafe factor, he/she can ask the referral unit such as the village/borough chief or the police to accompany during the visit. If accompaniment by a referral unit cannot be arranged, the case investigator may cancel the visit or conduct the visit outside the community, community hall or outside the case family’s home. The case investigator may also need to carry whistles, pepper spray, and other self-defense items.
- Experience Sharing 15The Foundation provides emergency relief to cases that have successfully passed assessment through wire transfer. However, in cases where there is an urgent need for funds or issues with the beneficiary's account, the case investigator may personally deliver the cash to the family and inquire about their current situation. If the Foundation is subsidizing any outstanding bills owed by the family, the case investigator will accompany the client and pay the fees in person to ensure that the money is used for its intended purpose and not diverted for other purposes.
- Experience Sharing 16Based on the evaluation by case investigators, the Foundation will provide necessary supplies to the families in need. In addition, before the Lunar New Year, we will prepare gift boxes and send them to the families for blessings. We also provide red envelopes for students in need, and a cake to mothers on Mother's Day to show our respect to the hard work mothers do.