DAVAO CITY — To highlight the various issues on adoption and generate public awareness and support for the legal adoption program, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and its partner child-caring agencies will lead the Adoption Consciousness Week celebration on February 18-24, 2013.
The week-long celebration kicks-off with “Love Walk 2013” at the Lapu-Lapu Shrine, Luneta, Manila, spearheaded by DSWD-National Capital Region, in coordination with the local governments of Manila, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, and Makati City, Foster/Adoption Support Group (FASG), and child placement agencies, such as NORFIL and Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF).
Bannering the theme “Love sees beyond differences,” which focuses on the unconditional love of adoptive parents for their adopted children regardless of their biological differences, the walk will be followed by testimonies of adoptive parents who will share their experiences with their adopted children.
Proclamation No. 72 dated February 3, 1999, mandated the observance of Adoption Consciousness Day on the first Saturday of February.
However, to enable a longer time to advocate issues on adoption, the National Organizing Committee chaired by the DSWD agreed to celebrate it on the third week of February.
Highlighting the celebration is a Music Event on February 22 at Bonifacio High Street, Global City that aims to bring together big names in the entertainment industry in support of the advocacy campaign on legal adoption.
Other activities include an adoption forum and setting-up of Adoption Information Desks which provide a venue for prospective adoptive parents to clarify matters on domestic and inter-country adoption. Social workers from DSWD, Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB), and child caring agencies will man the Adoption Information Desks to be set-up at Global City on February 22, from 2 to 5 p.m.
In 2010, a year after RA 9523 otherwise known as “An act requiring certification of the DSWD to declare a child legally available for adoption as a prerequisite for adoption proceedings” was enacted on March 12, 2009, DSWD’s Adoption Resource and Referral Office (ARRO) received 89 applications from prospective adoptive parents. This was followed by 112 in 2011, and 96 in 2012 for a total of 297 applications for adoption. In 2010, 68 children were placed for adoption; 86 in 2011; and 89 in 2012.
The DSWD facilitated the processing of domestic adoption cases leading to the permanent placement of 243 children based on data on domestic adoption from 2010 to 2012.
On the other hand, the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) placed 3,972 children for adoption from 2000 to 2012.
ICAB is an attached agency of DSWD created by virtue of RA 8043, Inter-Country Adoption Act, and is the central authority on all matters regarding inter-country adoption of Filipino children.
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