Inter-Country Adoption Act Process and Penalties

Policy and purposes

The State must provide every neglected and abandoned child with a family that provides love, care, and opportunities for growth and development.
The State must exert efforts to place the child with an adoptive family in the Philippines.
Inter-country adoption may be allowed to protect the best interests and fundamental rights of the child, including cases where children cannot be adopted by qualified Filipino citizens or by aliens permitted to adopt under law.
The overall framework is designed to ensure inter-country adoption proceeds only when beneficial to the child’s best interests and safeguards the child from harmful adoption practices.

Core definitions used

“Inter-country adoption” is the socio-legal process of adopting a Filipino child by a foreigner or a Filipino citizen permanently residing abroad where the petition is filed, supervised trial custody is undertaken, and the decree of adoption is issued outside the Philippines.
“Child” means a person below 15 years of age unless sooner emancipated by law.
“Department” refers to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
“Secretary” refers to the Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
“Authorized and accredited agency” refers to a State welfare agency or a licensed adoption agency in the country of the adopting parents that provides comprehensive social services and is duly recognized by the Department.
“Legally-free child” means a child who has been voluntarily or involuntarily committed to the Department in accordance with the Child and Youth Welfare Code.
“Matching” means the judicious pairing of the adoptive child and the applicant to promote a mutually satisfying parent-child relationship.
“Board” refers to the Inter-country Adoption Board.

Inter-country Adoption Board creation

The Inter-country Adoption Board is created as the central authority in matters relating to inter-country adoption.
The Board acts as the policy-making body, in consultation and coordination with the Department, child-care and placement agencies, adoptive agencies, and non-governmental organizations engaged in child-care and placement activities.
The Board must protect the Filipino child from abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and/or sale, or any other adoption practice harmful, detrimental, or prejudicial to the child.
The Board must collect, maintain, and preserve confidential information about the child and the adoptive parents.
The Board must monitor, follow up, and facilitate completion of adoption through authorized and accredited agencies.
The Board must prevent improper financial or other gain connected with adoption and deter improper practices contrary to the Act.
The Board must promote development of adoption services, including post-legal adoption.
The Board must license and accredit child-caring/placement agencies and collaborate with them in placement of Filipino children.
The Board must accredit and authorize foreign adoption agencies for placement of Filipino children in the foreign country.
The Board must cancel a license and blacklist a involved child-caring/placement agency or adoptive agency from the accreditation list upon a finding of violation of any provision under the Act.

Board composition, meetings, and duties

The Board consists of the Secretary of the Department as ex officio Chairman and six (6) other members appointed by the President for a nonrenewable term of six (6) years.
Among the six (6) appointed members must be one (1) psychiatrist or psychologist, two (2) lawyers qualified at least as regional trial court judges, one (1) registered social worker, and two (2) representatives from NGOs engaged in child-caring and placement activities.
Board members receive P1,500 per meeting attended.
No compensation is paid for more than four (4) meetings per month.
The Board must prescribe necessary rules and regulations to carry out the Act after consultation and favorable recommendation of agencies concerned with child-care, placement, and adoption.
The Board sets guidelines for convening an Inter-country Adoption Placement Committee under the Board’s direct supervision.
The Board sets guidelines for selection/matching of prospective adoptive parents and the adoptive child.
The Board determines a reasonable schedule of fees and charges for inter-country adoption applications.
The Board determines the form and contents of the inter-country adoption application.
The Board must formulate and develop policies, programs, and services to protect the child from harmful adoption practices.
The Board must institute systems and procedures to prevent improper financial gain and deter improper practices contrary to the Act.
The Board must develop and promote adoption services including post-legal services.
The Board may accredit and authorize foreign private adoption agencies that demonstrate professionalism, competence, and consistently pursue non-profit objectives; such agencies must be duly authorized and accredited by their own government to conduct inter-country adoption.
The total number of authorized and accredited foreign private adoption agencies may not exceed one hundred (100) a year.
The Board must ensure confidentiality of records of the child, natural parents, and adoptive parents at all times.
The Board must prepare, review, or modify Memoranda of Agreement and recommend them to the Department of Foreign Affairs regarding inter-country adoption consistent with the Act and its goals.
The Board must assist agencies and courts in implementing the Act, including coordination with foreign persons, agencies, and entities involved in the process and physical transfer of the child.
The President may determine other functions for the Board related to inter-country adoption.

Adoption procedure and placement rules

Inter-country adoption is the last resort: the Board must ensure all possibilities for adoption under the Family Code have been exhausted and that inter-country adoption is in the child’s best interest.
The Board must set guidelines ensuring steps will be taken to place the child in the Philippines before inter-country placement.
The number allowed for foreign adoption is limited to not exceed six hundred (600) a year for the first five (5) years.
Only a legally-free child may be the subject of inter-country adoption.
To consider a child for placement, the Board requires submission of: Child study; Birth certificate/foundling certificate; Deed of voluntary commitment/decree of abandonment/death certificate of parents; Medical evaluation/history; Psychological evaluation, as necessary; and Recent photo of the child.
Only an alien or a Filipino citizen permanently residing abroad may file an inter-country adoption application.
A prospective adopter must be at least twenty-seven (27) years of age and at least sixteen (16) years older than the child at the time of application, except when the adopter is the parent by nature of the child to be adopted or the spouse of such parent.
If the applicant is married, the spouse must jointly file the adoption.
The applicant must have capacity to act and assume rights and responsibilities of parental authority under the applicant’s national laws and must have undergone appropriate counseling from an accredited counselor in the applicant’s country.
The applicant must not have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
The applicant must be eligible to adopt under national law.
The applicant must be in a position to provide proper care and support and give necessary moral values and example to all children, including the child to be adopted.
The applicant must agree to uphold the child’s basic rights under Philippine laws, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to abide by rules issued to implement the Act.
The applicant must come from a country with diplomatic relations with the Philippines, whose government maintains a similarly authorized and accredited agency, and where adoption is allowed under the applicant’s national laws.
The applicant must possess all qualifications and have none of the disqualifications under the Act and other applicable Philippine laws.

Filing, required documents, and court process

An inter-country adoption application to adopt a Filipino child may be filed with the Philippine Regional Trial Court with jurisdiction over the child or with the Board through an intermediate agency (governmental or authorized and accredited) in the country of the prospective adoptive parents.
Applications must follow implementing rules on requirements promulgated by the Board.
The application must be supported by documents written and officially translated in English, including: Birth certificate of applicant(s); Marriage contract (if married) and divorce decree (if applicable); Written consent of biological or adopted children above 10 years of age in sworn statement form; Physical, medical, and psychological evaluation by a duly licensed physician and psychologist; Income tax returns or any document showing financial capability; Police clearance of applicant(s); Character reference from the local church/minister, the applicant’s employer, and a community member who has known the applicant(s) for at least five (5) years; and Recent postcard-size pictures of the applicant(s) and immediate family.
The Rules of Court govern adoption by judicial proceedings.

Matching, placement authority, and fetching

No child is matched to a foreign adoptive family unless it is satisfactorily shown that the child cannot be adopted locally.
The Board’s clearance, with a copy of minutes of meetings, forms part of the child’s adoption records.
When the Board is ready to transmit the Placement Authority to the authorized and accredited inter-country adoption agency and all travel documents of the child are ready, the adoptive parents—or any one of them—must personally fetch the child in the Philippines.

Pre-adoptive placement costs

Applicants must bear the cost of bringing the child from the Philippines to the applicant’s residence abroad, including all travel expenses within the Philippines and abroad.
Applicants must also pay costs for passport, visa, required medical examination and psychological evaluation, and other related expenses.

Board fees and use limitation

Fees, charges, and assessments collected by the Board must be used solely to process inter-country adoption applications and to support the Board’s activities.

Trial custody supervision and monitoring

The governmental agency or authorized and accredited agency in the adoptive parents’ country that filed the application is responsible for trial custody and the child’s care.
That agency must provide family counseling and related services.
Trial custody lasts six (6) months from placement.
A decree of adoption in the adopting country is issued only after trial custody ends; a copy of that decree must be sent to the Board to be part of the child’s records.
During trial custody, adopting parent(s) must submit to the filing agency progress reports on the child’s adjustment; the agency must transmit a copy to the Board.
Progress reports are considered in deciding whether to issue the decree of adoption.
The Department of Foreign Affairs must establish a system to monitor and check Filipino children sent abroad for trial custody as reported by the authorized and accredited inter-country adoption agency, including monitoring and checking the repatriation to the Philippines of a Filipino child whose adoption is not approved.

Executive agreements with foreign countries

The Department of Foreign Affairs, upon representation of the Board, prepares Executive Agreements with countries of foreign adoption agencies to ensure legitimate concurrence by those countries in upholding the Act’s safeguards.

Criminal penalties for illegal adoption

A person who knowingly participates in conducting or carrying out an illegal adoption in violation of the Act is punished by imprisonment of six (6) years and one (1) day to twelve (12) years and/or a fine of not less than P50,000 but not more than P200,000, at the discretion of the court.
An adoption is illegal if effected in any manner contrary to the Act, its implementing rules and regulations, executive agreements, State policies, and other laws pertaining to adoption.
Illegality is presumed from any of the following acts:
- Consent was acquired through or attended by coercion, fraud, or improper material inducement.
- There is no authority from the Board to effect adoption.
- Adoption procedures and safeguards required by law were not complied with.
- The child is subjected to or exposed to danger, abuse, or exploitation.
A person who violates regulations on confidentiality and integrity of records, documents, and communications of adoption applications, cases, and processes is punished by imprisonment of one (1) year and one (1) day to two (2) years and/or a fine of not less than P5,000 but not more than P10,000, at the discretion of the court.
Principals of attempts to commit any punishable act under this Article face a penalty two (2) degrees lower than the penalty for the consummated felony.
When acts punishable under this Article are committed by a syndicate or involve two or more children, they constitute an offense constituting child trafficking and merit the penalty of reclusion perpetua.
An act is deemed committed by a syndicate if carried out by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring and/or confederating to carry out any unlawful act defined under this Article.
Penalties under this Article are imposed in addition to any other penalties for the same acts under other laws, ordinances, executive orders, and proclamations.

Public officers: liability and automatic suspension

A government official, employee, or functionary found guilty of violating any provision of the Act, or found guilty of conspiring with private individuals, must be penalized in accordance with existing civil service laws, rules, and regulations.
Upon filing of a case (administrative or criminal), the government official, employee, or functionary is automatically suspended until resolution of the case.
The suspension mechanism operates in addition to the above-prescribed penalties.

Implementing rules, appropriations, and final clauses

The Inter-country Adoption Board, in coordination with the Council for the Welfare of Children, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Justice, must promulgate necessary implementing rules and regulations within six (6) months after effectivity, after due consultation with agencies involved in child-care and placement.
PHP 5,000,000 is appropriated from the proceeds of the Lotto for the Board’s initial operations.
Subsequent appropriations for the Board must be included in the General Appropriations Act for the year following enactment.
If any provision or part is held invalid or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law remains valid and subsisting.
Any law, decree, executive order, administrative order, or rules and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the Act are repealed, modified, or amended accordingly.