Arroyo bill seeks to strengthen adoption process for abandoned kids

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has filed a bill seeking to strengthen and simplify the adoption process of abandoned children.

In her House Bill No. 5090, otherwise known as the proposed "Act Codifying the Alternative Child Care Law of the Philippines," Arroyo pushed to put together laws relevant to taking care of abandoned and neglected children under one legislation so that adoption proceedings will be streamlined.

“The government has to step up its drive to solve the worsening problem of ‘unadoptable’ and overage children ‘not fit for adoption’ due to the long and complicated process of domestic and inter-country adoption," Arroyo said in a statement Thursday.

"This bill seeks to address this problem by creating a ‘one-stop-shop code’ whereby those who seek to adopt and/or foster care will be easily facilitated to the best interest of every child available for adoption and/or foster care,” she added.

Citing data from the United Nations Children's Rights and Emergency Relief Organization, Arroyo said there are about 1.8 million abandoned children in the country.

If passed, the Pampanga lawmaker's bill will create a National Child Care Authority (NCCA), which will be given the sole authority to accept, evaluate and decide all applications for local and inter-country adoption.

“The establishment of NCCA, implementing the various alternative child care laws to be known as the ‘Alternative Child Care Code’ will not only improve and speed up the process of adoption, foster care and guardianship but will also increase its fiscal capacity thereby improving its services offered to stakeholders,” Arroyo said.

An executive director will head the NCCA, and will be composed of two divisions: the Domestic Child Care Division and Inter-Country Child Care Division.

Both divisions will be mandated to create and maintain a database of all children for adoption and adoptive parents, process the matching and assist all stakeholders involved in the adoption.

Each division will also have a Child Placement Committee tasked to evaluate the applications for adoption.

After fulfillment of all requirements, certificates of adoption will be awarded to the adoptive parents within 30 days.

The requirements include a case study done by a social worker, publication and supervised trial custody.

Aside from this, the bill also increases the age of children available for inter-country adoption, from the current below 15 years old to below 18 years old.

It likewise decriminalizes simulated births, so long as it was done in the best interest of the child.

Foster care will be made a mandatory program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development under Arroyo's proposal. This is to ensure that the welfare of abandoned, abused and neglected children in foster families before they are adopted or returned to their biological parents -- are protected.

The measure also penalizes those who make misrepresentations in the adoption process, as well as putting the child in danger, abuse or exploitation.

“It is the policy of the State that every child remains under the care and custody of his/her parents and be provided with love, care, understanding and security towards the full and harmonious development of his/her personality," Arroyo said.

"Only when such efforts prove insufficient and no appropriate placement or adoption within the child’s extended family is available, shall adoption by an unrelated person be considered,” she added. —Erwin Colcol/KBK/KVD, GMA News