CEBU CITY – Adoption and alternative child care process is now streamlined into the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) and no longer a judicial process, according to the officials of Regional Alternative Child Care Office in Central Visayas (RACCO-7).
In a Kapihan sa PIA forum on Wednesday, June 18, RACCO-7 legal officer Jewel Jade Famor-Alberca discussed the overview of Republic Act (RA) 11642 or the Domestic Adoption Law, in line with the 3rd Adoption and Alternative Child Care Week celebration in June.
The law, which removed the judicial process of adoption, aimed to make the adoption process easier and less costly. Alberca also discussed the legal consequences for independent placement and ‘baby selling’.
The NACC was established under the law as a one-stop quasi-judicial agency supervised by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It was mandated to exercise all powers and functions relating to alternative child care including declaring a child is legally available for both domestic administrative adoption and intercountry adoption, foster care, kinship care, family-like care, and residential care.
Alberca said RA 11642 authorized the order of adoption process and the one-year post-placement services provided by NACC-RACCO in partnership with the Central Adoptive Parents Association that ensures the adoptive families have community support and legal adoption assistance.
“We emphasize the importance of adoptive parents journeying with their child throughout their lifetime, acknowledging the non-biological relationship, and the need for effort from both adoptive parents, especially during record celebration,” the lawyer added.
Alberca also highlighted the close collaboration with local government and child caring agencies to uphold legal adoption and the importance of every child having a loving, nurturing, and safe home.
Independent placement and legal processes
RACCO-7 Social Welfare Officer from the Domestic Administrative Adoption Unit Tracee Guinyawan discouraged independent placement and talked about the importance of consulting with licensed lawyers to ensure compliance with the legal process.
Guinyawan discussed the potential implications of qualified trafficking in cases of independent placement, which can result in life imprisonment. “We encourage prospective adoptive parents to go for the legal process of adoption through NACC-RACCO to simplify the process,” she said.
Legal adoption is a powerful act of love, responsibility, and protection. It ensures the future and protection of the child, as well as the adoptive parents, Guinyawan added, highlighting the risks associated with undocumented adoption, including the loss of identity and vulnerability for the child.
“It is important that prospective adoptive parents go through the proper legal adoption process to secure the child’s education, inheritance, and emotional well-being. Legal adoption now extends to immediate families, not just the adoptive parents and the need for prospective adoptive parents and immediate families to be mentally and emotionally prepared,” she added.
RA 11642, officially known as the “Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act,” designates every second week of June of every year for the observance of the Adoption and Alternative Child Care Week nationwide.
“This year’s theme, Hope and Home for Every Child, underscores the importance of our mission and the need for continued public action to capture legal adoption and other methods of alternative child care,” said RACCO-7 Social Welfare Officer Jeraldine Mendoza.
