THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office Davao is encouraging the public to welcome the legal procedure in adopting children especially childless couples to let orphaned, abandoned, and neglected Filipino children have a family their own families.
Kevin Cracknell, an American national, said Monday, February 3, that after being a foster parent to a Filipino young boy for six years, they decided to take legal adoption because the child has gotten closer to them. They are now in the process of completing the requirements set by the law.
Cracknell and his wife are missionaries who are staying in the Philippines for 17 years. They found the child they are adopting when they had a feeding program in their church. Seeing how severely malnourished the child was back then at five years old, they decided to foster the child to look after his welfare. The child is now 11 years old.
Although they have three children with his wife but this did not stop them to foster a child. Right now, they are fostering two children and the legal adoption for one of them is underway.
“There are a lot of kids who need love. Consider adopting ‘cause there’s so many out there. We’ve taken on two kids of our own but they are abandoned and I don’t know if you know and understand the word abandon but they have nothing. I mean these are kids they don’t have a mom. Nobody to rely on, they’re like grabbing for someone to hold on,” Cracknell said.
If a couple does not want to adopt, he said that they can consider fostering children instead.
“They really do need foster parents, they really do have a need for people who have a heart to adopt. I just wanna encourage you help take part of the burden on their shoulder and let’s love kids unconditionally,” he added.
Officials of the DSWD Davao attended the Kapehan sa Dabaw on Monday to promote the launching of the 2020 Adoption Consciousness Celebration with the theme: “Pagmamahal Palaganapin, Legal na Pag-aampon Ating Gawin! this February to raise awareness about legal adoption to ensure that orphaned, neglected, abandoned, and surrendered children are provided with the secure, permanent and loving homes which they deserve.
According to Raquel Nuñez, Assistant Regional Director for Administration, in 2019, 48 successful legal adoptions took place. This is not only domestic to include inter-country adoption. About 20 to 30 percent were adopted by foreigner couples ranging from 0 to six years old children.
Nuñez underscored that couples who plan to adopt must also think about their purpose for adopting. She said that the parents need to take care of the child and not the child to take care of them in the future. They have to question their interest, their motivation that’s the reason why the process is quite tedious.
“If you will notice it is expressing more on advocacy and awareness of the parents because we discourage this kind of situation to happen. Adoption is not getting the child because I want the child dahil cute siya, dahil pogi siya, or dahil I want the child to take care para pagtanda ko meron akong kasama,” she said. JCR