In Antipolo City, children are taking root as climate advocates, while parents and civil society organizations prepare the ground for their growth. Among those providing support was Riegel, 42, a mother of four and president of the Antipolo ADHD Support Group. Her journey began as a mother’s search for understanding and support for her child, Tres*, who was born with bilateral clubfoot and living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Like many parents of children with disabilities, Riegel found that early detection and intervention services were limited in their community. “I often asked myself, ‘Why is this happening? Am I the only one experiencing this?”, she shared. Her three other children, Morning*,15, Typhoon*,14, and Egoy*,10, do not have any disabilities, and she often compared them with Tres, out of frustration. With her husband working away from home as a steel fabricator, she handled most of the childcare by herself, which she found especially difficult.
In 2023, Riegel attended a disability awareness seminar where she met members of the Antipolo City Persons with Disability Core Group. The session helped her understand and respond better to Tres’ needs. Now that Tres is 12 years old, he walks more steadily and is enrolled in a regular sixth-grade class.
Through the Core Group, Riegel became involved in several projects of Save the Children Philippines —IMPACT, SEED, and LEAF—all promoting inclusion, local advocacy, and child participation. Inspired by her experiences, she now leads the Antipolo ADHD Group with 50 active members. “The support group helped us realize that we’re not bad parents. Our children simply have special needs that require special attention,” she said.
Project ROOTS was the next phase of Save the Children’s climate education journey. When it was introduced to the Core Group, Riegel saw it as the perfect opportunity to strengthen community leadership. What began with her personal advocacy as a mother evolved into a role that helps nurture the next generation of advocates.
During the project kickoff event, Riegel and other parent advocates watched as the children formed their own group. The “Green Eco Warriors,” a child-led group of environmental campaigners, committed to learning how climate change affects their communities, and how they could take the lead in raising awareness and promoting resilience. “They were the ones who decided on their group’s name and even designed their own logo. Isn’t it amazing? It’s inspiring how brave and proactive these children are,” Riegel shared.
As the Green Eco Warriors, a child-led group in Antipolo focusing on climate action, continue their journey, parent advocates like Riegel, 42, guide them to grow with confidence and compassion. Sheryl Alapad/ Save the Children
Through ROOTS, Riegel and her fellow Core Group members guided the Green Eco Warriors in preparing their advocacy plan on disaster response. In one workshop, the children presented the government programs and services they knew were available before, during, and after a disaster, as well as some recommendations. “We told them there are no right or wrong answers. "Whatever you know is true to your experience,” shared Riegel, reassuring the children that all their responses and suggestions are welcome.
Previously, many families didn’t know what services existed for disaster preparedness and response. Through awareness activities, more are now learning about and accessing these programs. Riegel likened this to an “information chain,” where children spread what they learned about government services on climate response.
In 2023, from their engagement with local government offices during Project IMPACT, the Core Group learned the importance of ensuring that children are heard by decision-makers. In that earlier interface, they presented results of their accessibility audit of health centers, asking why services such early detection, and intervention support for children with disabilities were still unavailable. However, actual decision-makers did not attend the meeting, but only their representatives.
Learning from that experience, the Core Group is helping Green Eco Warriors prepare to advocate more effectively for future dialogues. They support the children in developing a joint advocacy plan and crafting clear key messages to be presented during the interface.
“That’s why, with this new interface, we’re hoping that this time, the right people, the concerned officials, will be there,” Riegel said. The group will help set up meetings and coordinate follow-ups to ensure that invitations and position papers will reach the decision makers. This will ensure that policymakers can listen and respond directly to the issues raised by children.
Children from the Green Eco Warriors share during the project kick-off activity what local programs and services they know that help keep children healthy, educated, and protected before, during, and after emergencies. Jico Santos/ Save the Children
For Riegel, this next phase is about accountability. In the upcoming interface led by the Green Eco Warriors, she hopes decision-makers will respond to the children’s priority concerns and make clear commitments. “We just want to follow up on the concerns the children raised and see real action,” she said.
“We don’t want to dictate what the children should do,” Riegel said. “It’s their advocacy, their journey. We’re just here to support them.” True to her word, she and the Core Group serve as the Green Eco Warriors’ steady support system—ready to help when needed while letting the children take ownership of their work.
From a mother’s search for understanding, to a movement for inclusion, Riegel’s journey shows that when communities nurture the roots, children will always find the courage to bloom. #
*Names are changed for privacy. Riegel provided the nicknames of her children.