Child adoption
IF many Filipinos are discouraged from legally adopting orphaned or abandoned children, blame it on the costly and tedious process of adoption proceedings in the Philippines.
Saddening and disgusting are reports that in some instances, people took up to four years or more to complete the adoption process, spending hundreds of thousands of pesos.
Statistics show that only 60 percent of adoption cases in this graft-prone and impoverished Southeast Asian nation of election-crazy people are finalized in one year to three years.
That’s why we doff our hat to the 24-member Senate for passing on third and final reading a bill simplifying the process of adoption in this major manpower-exporting country.
Sponsored by Senator Risa Hontiveros Senate Bill (SB) 1933, otherwise known as the “Domestic Administration Adoption Act,” was unanimously approved on August 31.
Hontiveros is chair of the highly-influential Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality.
Actually, SB 1933 is a consolidation of SB Nos. 1070 and 1337, authored by Senators Grace Poe and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., respectively.
Poe said the proposed law will minimize costs, declog the courts and help the 4,943 children still under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
These children are still awaiting adoption and permanent homes, according to DSWD officials.
“This bill will abbreviate the waiting time of adoptive parents to six to nine months. Instead of years, the waiting time will now only be as long as a pregnancy of a mother,” said Hontiveros.
We share the view of the outspoken lady senator that the proposed legislation will encourage more parents to adopt children who need “loving homes and caring familities.”
Hindi ba, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto at House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco?
