CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), together with its partner agencies, is spearheading a series of activities for the weeklong celebration of Adoption Consciousness Week in Central Luzon from February 11 to 19.
DSWD Regional Director Gemma Gabuya said this year’s celebration, which bears the theme “Pagmamahal Palaganapin. Legal na Pag-aampon Ating Gawin (Spread Unconditional Love through Legal Adoption)” aims to raise and intensify the public’s awareness on legal adoption of abandoned, surrendered, and neglected children.
“For this year, we want to emphasize on the need to promote legal adoption as an expression of unconditional love to abandoned, surrendered and neglected children. At the same time, we want to intensify our call for the public to do legal adoption process and encourage families with children directly entrusted to them to legalize the adoption of the said child,” Gabuya explained.
As a show of force and unity in advocating the program, the celebration kicked off on February 13 with a motorcade and a talk show discussing the legal adoption process and common issues encountered by adoptive parents.
DSWD will also set up Adoption Helpdesk on February 20 to 21 in select malls across the region to respond to inquiries of the public on adoption and foster care laws in an effort to increase the number of adoptive and foster parents.
Aside from the weeklong activities, the Department of Education will also spearhead a poster making contest on legal adoption on the last week of February.
In addition, dissemination and advocacy of legal adoption through inclusion of orientation and fora during meetings with stakeholders will also be held from February to August.
This will be the second time that DSWD observes this celebration as an inter-agency event. (CLJD/MJLS- PIA 3)