Sen. Pia Cayetano, during one of the Senate’s hybrid plenary sessions. Senate PRIB file photo / Voltaire F. Domingo
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Pia Cayetano on Thursday welcomed the signing of a new law that simplifies the process of adoption, and creates a new government body dedicated exclusively to domestic adoptions.
In a statement, Cayetano said that the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act or Republic Act No. 11642 will make the country’s local adoption system more efficient and simple.
“The new law simplifies the country’s domestic adoption system by making it administrative in nature, and streamlining the processes and requirements,” said Cayetano.
It will also give way to the establishment of the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), an agency that will exclusively handle all adoption, foster care, and other alternative child care cases, and will have its own personnel under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“These reforms seek to speed up adoption proceedings while ensuring the best interest of the child. I know this law will save so many parents and children from the heartbreak of waiting and waiting for their adoption to be final,” she stressed.
Cayetano, who also happens to be an adoptive mother, is one of the co-author and co-sponsors of the measure which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Jan. 6.
“I can now say that we have a comprehensive domestic administrative adoption law. I have renewed hope that prospective parents won’t have to wait too long to bring a child into their loving arms, and for children without parents to find their forever family sooner,” concluded Cayetano.
Apart from these, the law also prohibits adoption discrimination acts such as labelling, shaming, and bullying, among others, penalizing persons found guilty of such discrimination acts with a fine of P10,000 to P20,000.
RELATED STORY:
Senate OKs bill seeking simpler, shorter, inexpensive adoption process