DSWD offers to spend for adoption process

In order to encourage probable adoptive parents of abandoned children, the Department of Social Welfare and Development will now shoulder the costs of the entire legal procedure.

DSWD-7 regional director Teodulo Romo said their agency will now handle the court procedure of adoption just to make sure that the abandoned children will have an adoptive family.

Romo said adoption is a social issue and nobody wants to adopt because it would entail costs from the beginning to the end of the process.

It was noted that probable adoptive parents mostly came from middle-income class.

“We expect that the rich don’t want to adopt for obvious reasons, and so the middle income doesn’t have that much money for the adoption court procedure,” Romo said.

Acceptance fee alone of lawyers ranges from P20,000 to P30,000 prior to the start of the court proceeding.

He said DSWD-7 has a retained lawyer and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines assured their agency free legal assistance for the matter.

There are 25 abandoned children at the center aged three years old and below.

Background check of probable parents including interviews, visitations and collateral capacity and the matching of parent to child, Romo said will take a maximum of two months.

The court proceeding starting from the filing of the Petition for Adoption to the resolution will run from one to two years.

However, while the court proceeding is ongoing, Romo said, the foster parent is already given a license so that he or she can already take the child home.

“This is good news because it will give chance to those who wanted to adopt as well as give home to the children, the center is not the best place for them to grow up,” Romo said.

He said even singles can apply as adoptive parent provided he or she meets the requirements.

Those up for adoption are the children abandoned and found to have no family after a year of being publicized.  — Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP