2,400 children available for adoption – DSWD

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has certified some 2,400 Filipino children aged up to 16 years old as available for adoption by prospective parents.

“There are so many children in orphanages and other child-caring agencies waiting to be adopted. But families hold back on adoption because of its stigma,” Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said.

The DSWD is spearheading the celebration of the 15th Adoption Consciousness Week, which ends today.

In March 2009, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9523 or the “Declaration of a Child Legally Available for Adoption” to hasten the adoption process of abandoned or neglected children, including infants.

Under the law, declaration of abandonment of a child requires a certification signed by the DSWD secretary in lieu of a judicial order.

The time before a child is considered abandoned has been reduced to three months from six months, while the period for the child to be declared legally available for adoption has been limited to less than two months from up to three years in court proceedings.

Soliman urged mothers who are selling their babies due to poverty to resort to legal adoption process to avoid imprisonment.

She said they have received reports of poor pregnant women who sold their babies to childless couples.

According to the DSWD, some prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) are hesitant to go through the legal adoption process because of the legal fees involved. To avoid paying the expensive fees of lawyers, they opted for reproduction of birth certificate to make it appear that the child is their biological child.

In 2010, the DSWD’s Adoption Resource and Referral Office received 89 applications from PAPs; 112 in 2011; and 96 in 2012.

In the same year, a total of 68 children were placed for adoption; 86 in 2011; and 89 in 2012.

Records on domestic adoption from 2010 to 2012 showed the DSWD facilitated the processing of adoption cases leading to the permanent placement of 243 children.

The Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) placed 3,972 children for adoption from 2000 to 2012.