More than 1,800 family and community care workers and persons with disabilities (PWDs) with high support needs will benefit from the expansion of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)’s Therapy for Fee (TheraFee) Project for 2026, a key official said on Friday.

According DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao, the TheraFree Project aims to support family and community members caring for persons with disabilities (PWDs) having high support needs by incentivizing their duty as care workers through cash-for-work.

“As part of our inclusive social protection programs, the DSWD recognizes that caregiving is real work. Through the TheraFee Project, we are supporting families and community care workers who devote their time and effort to caring for persons with disabilities,” Dumlao explained.

Through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, in partnership with the National Council for Disability Affairs, DSWD rolled out the pilot implementation of the TheraFee Project under the Cash-for-Work Program for Persons with Disabilities in the National Capital Region and Region 6 (Western Visayas) in 2025.

For 2026, the TheraFee Project will be implemented across all regions in the country, except the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, to assist family members and community care workers, as primary beneficiaries; and persons with irreversible physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychosocial impairments that limit independent functioning and require continuous support for daily living, as secondary beneficiaries of the program.

Care workers supporting persons with disabilities with high support needs may engage in the program for a maximum of 90 days per year and a maximum of eight hours of work per day.

The scope of work or services of the care workers may include basic activities of daily living such as assisting persons with disabilities with high support needs in bathing, dressing, eating, using the bathroom, grooming, and transferring from one place to another.

Instrumental activities of daily living like meal preparation, medical management, housekeeping, managing finances, shopping, transportation, communication, and companionship may also be performed by the beneficiaries.

The rendered service is compensable based on the prevailing regional daily minimum wage rate.

Dumlao said this initiative also includes capacity-building activities for care workers to improve their skills in providing home-based care, while promoting gender equality and social inclusion within families and communities.

“By empowering care workers and strengthening family support systems, we also improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities who rely on them every day. This program is about dignity, inclusion, and ensuring that no one is left behind,” she said. (PNA)