THE adoption process is now made easy as it became solely administrative, thus no court appearance is necessary, an officer from the Regional Alternative Child Care Office-Davao Region (Racco-Davao) said.
Sheena Lyka Dollolasa, a social welfare officer at Racco-Davao, said in a radio interview, on Friday morning, November 17, that there is no longer a need to go to court in the adoption process as would-be adoptive parents will only have to undergo administrative proceedings and coordinate with the social workers so that they can adopt a child.
“Sauna kung mo-proseso ta ug adoption muagi pa ta og abogado, muagi pa ta og taas kaayo na proseso pero tungod aning atong bag-ong balaod iyahang ginahatag ang atoang mga kliyente og opportunity na maproseso ang ilang adoption na mas pinadali (Before when we are processing for adoption we need to get a lawyer, we need to undergo a long process but because of our new law we are giving our clients better opportunity to process their adoption easily),” Dollolasa said.
Under the Republic Act (RA) 11642, or the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act, there is a socialized fee for those who are interested in processing for adoption. Dollolasa, however, said that the fee has still not been established but assured that it would not be expensive since the law states that adoption should not be costly.
She also expressed that the adoptive parents would only be spending on getting the necessary documents for the adoption application.
Under the Republic Act (RA) 11122 or the Simulated Birth Rectification Act, once the adoptive parents have legally adopted the child they have the right to rectify a simulated birth record of their adopted child.
Dollolasa also expressed that apart from adoption, the office provides foster care under the National Authority for Child Care. Unlike adoption wherein a child is under family’s care permanently, foster care only houses the child temporarily until the case of the child is resolved.
Some of the children that are under the foster care program of the office are those who are neglected, abandoned, foundling, and abused. Under Racco, there are about 100 children under foster care and among them, some are for reunification or adoption.
Dollolasa highlighted that foster parents are licensed by the office but before becoming one, the office has a set of qualifications before they could become a foster parent.
Some of their qualifications include being of legal age, having a genuine interest in fostering a child, being physically healthy, having a harmonious relationship with the family, being physically and emotionally mature, and being financially stable.
Requirements of being a foster parent are a birth certificate, marriage certificate, medical certificate, proof of income, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) or police clearance, barangay clearance, and certificate of attendance from the orientation.
Once all of the documents are compiled, social workers will then conduct an assessment of the living conditions of the family, and the members of the family, and will ask neighbors and the barangay whether the applying foster parent is financially, physically, and emotionally capable of fostering a child.
Although the child is under foster care, the government will be providing subsidies for his basic needs. For children one year old and above who are without special needs, their allocated cash assistance is P8,000 per month for their education expenses, food, medicine, and clothing.
For infants and children with special needs, they will be receiving cash assistance of P10,000 per month due to their disability. RGP
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