Law Summary
Declaration of Policies
- Prioritizes the child’s care under biological parents if possible.
- Adoption by unrelated persons is considered only when no family placement is available.
- Best interest of the child is paramount.
- Compliance with Philippine laws and international conventions such as UNCRC and the Hague Convention.
- Establishes policies to protect biological and adoptive parents.
- Promotes domestic adoption to preserve child’s identity and culture.
- Prevents child trafficking and abuse via collaboration with relevant agencies.
- Recognition that administrative adoption is an expeditious process for legally available children, relatives, adult and step-parent adoptions.
Objectives
- Simplify and reduce the cost of domestic adoption proceedings.
- Create the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) to oversee alternative child care including adoption and foster care.
Definitions
- Broad definitions provided for key terms such as abandoned child, adoption, adoption social worker, foster care, legally available child, child-caring agency, CDCLAA (Certificate Declaring a Child Legally Available for Adoption), and more.
- Includes provisions for adult adoption and independent placement.
- Establishes roles of social workers and para-social workers.
National Authority for Child Care (NACC)
- ICAB reorganized into NACC, a one-stop quasi-judicial agency attached to DSWD.
- NACC has exclusive jurisdiction on alternative child care and domestic administrative adoption including the issuance of CDCLAA.
- Composed of a Council and a Secretariat headed by an Executive Director.
- Council members include DSWD Secretary as chair, psychiatrists/psychologists, lawyers, social worker, NGO representatives.
- Secretariat handles implementation, supervision, accreditation, appeals, and technical assistance.
- Regional Alternative Child Care Offices (RACCO) established per region, headed by Regional Officers with multidisciplinary Child Placement Committees (RCPC).
Functions of the NACC
- Resolve petitions for CDCLAA and domestic/intercountry adoption.
- Supervise RACCO and local adoption processes.
- Issue travel clearances.
- Set standards for adoption services including pre- and post-adoption.
- Conduct advocacy and information campaigns.
- Develop and implement child welfare policies.
- Imposes penalties for violations regarding adoption.
- Ensure intercountry adoption is a last resort after exhausting domestic options.
- Operate a national database on adoption cases and parent applicants.
Declaration of Legally Available Children
- CDCLAA issued for involuntarily committed, abandoned, or voluntarily committed children.
- Efforts required to locate biological parents with proof such as publications, police reports, or DVC.
- Procedures when parents are located include assessment and possible issuance of DVC.
- Petition to the NACC or RACCO for CDCLAA filing with required documents.
- CDCLAA issuance timelines within 3 months after petition.
- Opposition and appeal processes provided.
Adoption Process
- Pre-adoption counseling required for biological parents, prospective adoptive parents (PAPs), and adoptees.
- Counseling includes legal effects, parenting capability, and implications on parental rights.
- Eligibility to adopt includes Filipino citizens 25 years old and above, legal guardians, foster parents, government officials abroad, and qualified foreign nationals.
- Age gap and residency conditions specified.
- Types of adoption: domestic administrative, step-parent, relative, and adult adoption.
- Detailed documentary and procedural requirements for each adoption type.
- Matching process conducted by RCPC or CPC with provisions for regional and interregional matching.
- Pre-adoption placement authority and supervised trial custody periods specified.
Confidentiality and Legal Protection
- Adoption files and documents are confidential.
- Disclosure only allowed by NACC order or lawful authority.
- Violations penalized under relevant laws including data privacy and penal codes.
Adoption Benefits and Effects
- Adoptive parents enjoy all rights and benefits as biological parents, including statutory leaves.
- Adopted child is legitimate for all purposes with full parental authority granted to adoptive parents.
- Rights to succession and filiation fully transfer.
- Effects of adoption retroactive to filing date of petition.
Post-Adoption Services
- Adoption telling assisted by social workers.
- Tracing or search of biological family upon adoptee’s majority.
- Aftercare monitoring by NACC for at least one year post-adoption.
- Grounds and procedures for rescission of adoption specified including abuse, abandonment, or death of adopter.
Special Adoption Cases
- Adoption of children with simulated birth certificates governed with specified procedural rules.
- Foster care procedures remain governed by existing laws but under NACC supervision.
- Intercountry adoption procedures remain under R.A. No. 8043 guidelines.
Violations and Penalties
- Penalties including imprisonment and fines for coercion, fraud, simulated birth records, confidentiality breaches, and child endangerment.
- Syndicated offenses involving children attract higher penalties and deportation for foreign nationals.
- Government officials involved face additional sanctions including suspension.
- Prohibition and penalties for adoption discrimination acts.
Final Provisions
- Mandate for information dissemination involving various government agencies and NGOs.
- Inclusion of adoption and alternative child care in the elementary school curriculum (Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao).
- Adoption and alternative child care considered in Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit.
- Transition provisions for pending court cases and establishment of NACC.
- Procedures for court petitions withdrawn to avail benefits under the new law.
- Designates the second week of June as Adoption and Alternative Child Care Week.
- Provision for saving, separability, repeal, and effectivity of the IRR.
This summary provides a comprehensive legal structure for child welfare through administrative adoption and alternative care safeguarding the rights of the child, birth parents, and adoptive parents under Philippines law.