Policy and purpose
- The State adopts a policy that alternative protection and assistance must be afforded to every abandoned, surrendered, or neglected child.
- The State must extend such assistance in the most expeditious manner in the interest of the child’s full emotional and social development.
- Administrative processes under the DSWD for declaring a child legally available for adoption are treated as the most expeditious proceedings for the best interest and welfare of the child.
Definitions and key terms
- DSWD is the implementing agency and has the sole authority to issue the certification declaring a child legally available for adoption.
- Child means a person below eighteen (18) years of age or a person over eighteen (18) years of age but who is unable to fully take care of him/herself or protect himself/herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination due to a physical or mental disability or condition.
- Abandoned Child is a child with no proper parental care or guardianship, or whose parent(s) deserted the child for at least three (3) continuous months, including a founding.
- Neglected Child is a child whose basic needs are deliberately unattended or inadequately attended for at least three (3) continuous months; neglect occurs in:
- Physical neglect, when the child is malnourished, ill-clad, and without proper shelter, or when unattended by being left without proper provisions and/or without proper supervision; and
- Emotional neglect, when maltreated, raped, seduced, exploited, overworked, made to work under conditions not conducive to good health, made to beg in streets/public places, placed in moral danger, or exposed to gambling, prostitution, and other vices.
- Child Legally Available for Adoption means a child for whom DSWD issued a certification that the child is legally available for adoption after abandonment or neglect is proven through submitted documents, or who was voluntarily committed by parent(s)/legal guardian.
- Voluntarily Committed Child is a child whose parent(s) or legal guardian knowingly and willingly relinquished parental authority to the DSWD or any duly accredited child-placement or child-caring agency/institution.
- Child-caring agency or institution is a private non-profit or government agency duly accredited by the DSWD providing twenty-four (24) hour residential care services for abandoned, neglected, or voluntarily committed children.
- Child-placing agency or institution is a private non-profit or government agency duly accredited by the DSWD receiving and processing applicants to become foster or adoptive parents and facilitating placement of children eligible for foster care or adoption.
- Petitioner is the head/executive director of a licensed/accredited child-caring or child-placing agency/institution who has actual custody of the minor and files the certification, or—when the child is under custody of another individual—the agency/institution files with the consent of the child’s custodian.
- Secretary means the Secretary of the DSWD or duly authorized representative.
- Conspicuous Place means a place frequented by the public where notice of the petition must be posted for information of any interested person.
- Social Case Study Report (SCSR) is the written assessment by a licensed social worker on social-cultural economic condition, psychosocial background, current functioning, facts of abandonment/neglect, and efforts to locate the child’s biological parents/relatives.
Petition requirements and supporting documents
- The petition must be in the form of an affidavit, subscribed and sworn before a person authorized by law to administer oaths.
- The petition must contain facts necessary to establish the petition’s merits and must state the circumstances surrounding the abandonment or neglect.
- The petition must be supported by a Social Case Study Report made by:
- the DSWD,
- a local government unit, or
- a licensed or accredited child-caring or child-placing agency or institution charged with custody of the child.
- The petition must include proof that efforts were made to locate the parent(s) or known relatives, using any sufficient form listed:
- A written certification from a local or national radio or television station that the case was aired on three (3) different occasions;
- Publication in one (1) newspaper of general circulation;
- A police report or barangay certification from the locality where the child was found, or a certified copy of a tracing report issued by the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), National Headquarters (NHQ), Social Service Division stating that despite due diligence, the child’s parents could not be found; and
- Returned registered mail to the last known address of the parent(s) or known relatives, if any.
- The petition must include the birth certificate, if available.
- The petition must include a recent photograph of the child and a photograph of the child upon abandonment or admission to the agency/institution.
Filing venue and notice posting
- The petition must be filed in the regional office of the DSWD where the child was found or abandoned.
- The Regional Director must examine the petition and supporting documents and determine whether they are sufficient in form and substance.
- If sufficient, the Regional Director must authorize posting of the notice of the petition in a Conspicuous Place in the locality where the child was found.
- The notice posting must last for five (5) consecutive days.
DSWD evaluation, certification, and Civil Registry effect
- The Regional Director must act on the petition and render a recommendation not later than five (5) working days after completion of posting.
- The Regional Director must transmit a copy of the recommendation and records to the Office of the Secretary within forty-eight (48) hours from the date of the recommendation.
- Upon finding merit in the petition, the Secretary must issue a certification declaring the child legally available for adoption within seven (7) working days from receipt of the recommendation.
- The certification by itself serves as the sole basis for the immediate issuance by the local civil registrar of a foundling certificate.
- Within seven (7) working days, the local civil registrar must transmit the founding certificate to the National Statistics Office (NSO).
Appeals and finality
- The Secretary’s decision is appealable to the Court of Appeals within five (5) days from receipt of the decision by the petitioner.
- If no appeal is filed within five (5) days, the decision becomes final and executory.
Time-bound certifications by commitment type
- For an involuntarily committed child under Article 141, paragraph 4(a) and Article 142 of Presidential Decree No. 603, the certification declaring the child legally available for adoption must be issued by the DSWD within three (3) months following the involuntary commitment.
- For voluntary commitment under Article 154 of Presidential Decree No. 603, the certification declaring the child legally available for adoption must be issued by the Secretary within three (3) months following filing of the Deed of Voluntary Commitment signed by the parent(s) with the DSWD.
- A parent(s) or legal guardian who voluntarily committed a child may recover legal custody and parental authority over the child from the agency/institution of voluntary commitment when the DSWD is satisfied that the parent(s)/guardian is in a position to adequately provide for the child’s needs.
- The petition for restoration must be filed within (3) months after signing of the Deed of Voluntary Commitment.
Administrative nature and evidentiary role
- The certification declaring a child legally available for adoption is issued by the DSWD in lieu of a judicial order, making the process administrative in nature.
- The certification functions as the primary evidence that the child is legally available in:
- a domestic adoption proceeding under Republic Act No. 8552, and
- an inter-country adoption proceeding under Republic Act No. 8043.
Implementing rules, interim filing, and composition
- The DSWD, together with the Council for Welfare of Children, the Inter-Country Adoption Board, two (2) representatives from licensed or accredited child-placing and child-caring agencies/institutions, the National Statistics Office, and the Office of the Civil Registrar, must draft the implementing rules and regulations within sixty (60) days following complete publication.
- Pending completion of drafting the implementing rules and regulations, petitions for issuance of a certification declaring a child legally available for adoption may be filed with the regional office of the DSWD where the child was found or abandoned.
Penalties and sanctions for violations
- PHP 100,000 to PHP 200,000 must be imposed on any person, institution, or agency that places a child for adoption without the DSWD certification declaring the child legally available for adoption.
- An agency or institution found violating the Act has its license to operate revoked, without prejudice to criminal prosecution of its officers and employees.
- Violation subjects the concerned government official or employee to appropriate administrative, civil and/or criminal sanctions, including suspension and/or dismissal from government service and forfeiture of benefits.
Repeals, amendments, and separability
- The Act repeals, modifies, or amends accordingly:
- Sections 2(c)(iii), 3(b), (e) and 8(a) of Republic Act No. 8552,
- Section 3(f) of Republic Act No. 8043,
- Chapter 1 of Title VII and VIII of Presidential Decree No. 603,
- and any law, presidential decree, executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule, or regulation contrary to or inconsistent with the Act.
- If any provision of the Act is held invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions not affected remain valid and subsisting.