IRR for Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Law signed

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Law was signed during a ceremony held on Tuesday.

Last January, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11642 which created the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) - the body that would have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all matters on alternative child care, including declaring a child legally available for adoption, domestic administrative adoption, adult adoption, and foster care.

The NACC, which will be under the jurisdiction of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), will also have the authority to impose penalties in case of any violation of the new law.

The law defines “alternative child care” as the provision of planned substitute parental care for a child who is orphaned, abandoned, neglected, or surrendered, by a child-caring or child-placing agency, which includes foster care, kinship care, family-like care, and residential care.

During the ceremony, officials of the DSWD, Department of Education (DepEd), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Health (DOH), and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) signed the IRR.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista underscored that they would continue to support and implement policies that promote the welfare of children.

“Through the laws’ IRR we will be able to ensure the seamless execution of RA 11642 and guarantee the continuous protection of the rights and welfare of children especially those with unknown facts of birth,” said Bautista.

He also thanked the legislators for the creation of the law.

Northern Samar 1st District Representative Paul Daza, the principal author of the law, urged incoming DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo to allot sufficient funding for the implementation of the law.

“We need to make sure that the 2023 GAA (General Appropriations Act) will include all, if not, most of the budget requirements to implement the good law that we are celebrating today,” he said.

“With every law that we pass, with every child that we adopt, we are building the future of hope,” he added.

Meanwhile, Senator Grace Poe, co-author of the law, said her contribution to the passage of the law was a tribute to the memory of her adoptive mother Susan Roces who passed away last May 20.

“This is a sentimental accomplishment for me as a foundling who had a chance to legislate change to make it easier for children like me to be adopted,” added Poe.

Under the law, adoption discrimination acts such as labeling, shaming, bullying, negative stigma, among others, are prohibited.

The measure also penalizes persons found guilty of such adoption discrimination acts with a fine of P10,000 to P20,000, at the discretion of the court. — DVM, GMA News