Duterte signs law easing child adoption process

The newly created National Authority for Child Care (NACC) will soon take over the handling of all government matters related to childcare and adoption.

This after Duterte finally signed Republic Act (RA) 11642, or the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act last week, which created the new quasi-judicial agency.

In the House of Representatives, Northern Samar Rep. Paul R. Daza, principal author of the bill, said about 1.8 million Filipino children, who are waiting for loving homes, will benefit from the signing of the new law. The new legislation, he added, finally resolves the problem on abandoned and neglected children who are waiting to be adopted.

“I’m calling on prospective adoptive parents; I enjoin you to give a life-changing chance for children who have long been waiting for the fulfillment of their dreams to have families!” Daza said.

The NACC will take over the previous function of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) relating to alternative childcare and adoption.

It will be headed by the Secretary of DSWD as ex-officio chairperson and will include six other members to be appointed by the President for a non-renewable term of six years.

The six members should include a psychiatrist or psychologist, and two lawyers, who have at least served as Regional Trial Court judges, a social worker, and two representatives from nongovernment organizations (NGO) engaged in child-care and child placing activities.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), ICAB, and DSWD were tasked to create the organization structure and plantilla positions of the NACC.

Among the foremost functions of the NACC will be to declare a child legally available for adoption as well as handle matters concerning domestic administrative adoptions and adult adoption.

It will also be responsible for the implementation of RA 10165, or the Foster Care Act of 2012, RA 11222 or the Simulated Birth Rectification Act and inter-country adoption under Republic Act 8043 or the inter-country Adoption Act of 1995.

The NACC will have the power to impose penalties for the violation of the provisions of RA 11642.

The sanction may range from imprisonment ranging from six years to 12 years and a fine ranging from P50,000 to P200,000 depending on the violation.

As part of the transition period for the implementation of RA 11642, concerned parties may withdraw all judicial petitions for domestic adoption pending in court so they may refile it to avail of the advantage of the new law.

Until the NACC is established, its functions in issuing Certificate Declaring a Child Legally Available for Adoption (CDCLAA) will temporarily remain with the DSWD’s Program Management Bureau.

RA 11642 will take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in newspapers of general circulation.

The new law also mandates the adoption process (non-relative, relative within 4th degree of consanguinity or affinity and cases of adult adoption) to become purely an administrative proceeding. This means, the long judicial process—which previously governed adoption cases—is now a thing of the past.

The law is much anticipated. Prospective parents interviewed by legislators during deliberations shared their frustrations and agonies over the long court cases, not to mention the very high costs.

The law also provides that any Filipino citizen of at least 25 years age, who is in possession of full civil capacity and legal rights, has not been convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude, is of good moral character and can model the same, is emotionally and psychologically capable of caring for children, at least sixteen years older than the adoptee, and who is in a position to support the child, is allowed to adopt subject to requirements.

It added that NACC, a local government unit, or a child placing or the child-caring agency, which has custody of a child should exert all efforts using tri-media and any other possible means to locate the biological parents of the child and seek their consent.

If such efforts fail, the child shall, if applicable, be registered as a foundling and subsequently be the subject of administrative proceedings where said child shall be declared abandoned: Provided, that if the adoptee is an adult, the search for the biological parent is at the discretion of the adoptee.

It also provides that rescission of adoption may be implemented based on valid grounds.

The bill said adoptive parents may avail of paid maternity and paternity leaves as provided for under existing laws for biological parents.

“I have dreamt of a future like this—where our society allows adoptive parents and adopted children to enjoy the fullness of blissful family life, without the long and tedious court proceedings,” said Daza.

With Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

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