LGBT+ community, solo parents encouraged to legally adopt under simplified system

The National Authority for Child Care (NACC) on Tuesday encouraged eligible members of the LGBTQ+ community to legally adopt, emphasizing that children should have "access to homes where they are safe, supported, and able to grow with stability."

"We want to tell everyone that there is no discrimination. If you are gay, it is not a hindrance to being a parent, legally a parent to an adopted child," said newly named NACC Executive Director Atty. Gaby Concepcion in a press conference during the opening of the agency's annual campaign on legal adoption, alternative child care, and child protection programs.

Under the campaign's banner "Love Makes a Family," the NACC said that legal adoption is open to qualified individuals regardless of sexual orientation.

​​"Love is expressed in many ways, through words, time, acts of service, gifts, and physical presence. But beyond these, choosing to go through legal adoption and foster care is also an expression of love. It is not only a legal process of building a family. It is a conscious decision to give a child safety, stability, and a permanent sense of belonging," Concepcion also said.

The Philippines shifted from judicial to administrative adoptions through the enactment of Republic Act No. 11642 in 2022, transferring domestic adoption cases from the courts to the NACC. This transformed the Philippine adoption system by introducing reforms aimed at making adoptions faster, less expensive, more streamlined, and court-free.

Under the law, the NACC was created as a quasi-judicial agency attached to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), with exclusive and original jurisdiction over domestic administrative adoption, inter-country adoption, foster care, and other forms of alternative child care.

"Among the NACC advocacies, Solo Parent Adoption was highlighted as a legal option available to qualified individuals who want to adopt. This includes single persons and solo parents, including eligible members of the LGBTQIA+ community under existing law. The NACC noted that what carries weight in adoption is the ability to provide consistent care and a stable home," the agency said in a press release posted on Facebook.

"Every child deserves the opportunity to grow up in a safe, loving, and permanent family. Through legal adoption, more children can experience what every child deserves—a place to belong," it also said in a related release. —MGP, GMA News