Cordillera Administrative Region- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) here will be conducting the Adoption and Foster Care Forum on 5 December 2014 at the DSWD Training Center. The said forum is open to all individuals interested in adoption and foster care.
Social Technology Unit and Adoption Resource and Referral Section (ARRS) Head Mary Ann G. Buclao said that this forum aims to increase the awareness of prospective adoptive and foster parents on legal adoption and the foster care process.
“We would like the potential parents to understand the legal procedures, correct process, and its implications on adopting a child. We would also like to advocate the benefits of adopting or fostering a child especially those who are sheltered in our Centers and institutions. In the region, a total of fifty-eight (58) children were admitted by accredited child caring agency and residential care facility of DSWD-CAR. Of this figure, thirty (30) are for adoption and foster care. The forum would also like to address issues on the continuous occurrence of independent placement of children and simulation of birth” Buclao shared.
Republic Act 8552 Article 1 Section 3-J defines birth simulation as “the tampering of the civil registry making it appear in the birth records that a certain child was born to a person who is not his/her biological mother, causing such child to lose his/her true identity and status”. It also identifies the attendance to forum as the first step in the adoption process. Other steps include application, preparation of home study report, approval or disapproval of the application, matching or family selection, placement of the child to his/her prospective adoptive parents, and supervised trial custody before the finalization of the child’s adoption.
Philippine law defines adoption as a socio-legal process of placing a child permanently under the care of his/ her adoptive parents. This type of placement involves the transfer of all legal parental rights to the adoptive parents as well as the giving of legal rights of the adoptive child to that of a biological child. While foster care is the temporary placement of a child to his/her foster parent for a maximum of six (6) months. Unlike in adoption, the child’s birth parents still have parental rights over their child, unless the child is up for adoption.
This year’s forum also aims to further advocate the realization of every child’s right to have a family. #DSWD-CAR, SOCIAL MARKETING UNIT, Nerizza Faye G. Villanueva
