Thousands of Filipino children are growing up in residential care facilities and child-caring agencies across the country. Many of them are not orphans. They are children who have experienced abandonment, neglect, abuse, or circumstances that temporarily prevent their biological families from caring for them.
While these facilities provide safety and protection, every child deserves something more fundamental: a family.
This is the very principle behind Republic Act 10165, otherwise known as the Foster Care Act of 2012. The law recognizes that children thrive best in a one-on-one family environment where they receive love, guidance, stability, and a sense of belonging.
Foster care provides an opportunity for qualified Filipino families to temporarily open their homes and hearts to children in need while long-term plans are being arranged for the child.
More than a decade after the law’s enactment, foster care remains one of the country’s most important yet underutilized child welfare programs due to the lack of licensed foster families.
While many Filipinos are willing to help vulnerable children, there remains a significant shortage of licensed foster families. As a result, many children continue to stay in residential care facilities even when social workers have already assessed them as suitable for family-based care.
Adoption and foster care are alternative family-based care options, aside from reunification with their biological families.
Across the country, there are children admitted to child-caring agencies who are ready to be placed with foster families. These children do not need institutions. What they need are families who can provide the love, guidance, support, and sense of belonging that every child deserves. Unfortunately, the number of available foster families remains far below the need.
This is why more Filipino families must be encouraged to consider becoming foster parents. Foster parenting is not reserved for the wealthy or for people with special backgrounds. What matters most is the willingness and capacity to provide a safe, nurturing, and stable home for a child.
Prospective foster parents undergo a thorough assessment process conducted by the Regional Alternative Child Care Offices or Raccos, Child Placing Agencies, and Local Social Welfare Development Officers of the local government units. Through home studies, interviews, background checks, and training programs, Raccos ensure that prospective foster parents are capable of meeting the needs of children.
Some families hesitate because they believe foster care will create financial difficulties.
The government recognizes this concern and provides support to licensed foster families.
Under existing policies, foster parents may receive monthly subsidies from the National Authority for Child Care amounting to approximately P8,000 for a regular foster child and up to P10,000 for a child with disability or special needs.
These subsidies help cover the child’s immediate daily needs, education, healthcare, and other essential expenses.
Further, another reason why families hesitate to become foster parents is the prospect of both forming a deep attachment and eventually experiencing separation. Foster parents naturally develop strong emotional bonds with the child or children in their care, making it difficult to let go once the child’s permanency plan has been achieved.
However, foster families must be prepared for this reality and embrace the understanding that foster care is a temporary arrangement intended to provide children with a safe, loving, and family-based environment while their permanent placement is being readied.