Illegal adoption not an option: Proper process should be followed
Public warned amid reports of illegal buying, selling of babies on Facebook
A photo during the adoption forum inside SM Seaside City on June 12. | CDN Digital photo/Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — To those individuals who are planning to adopt children, they may approach the agency who holds the ‘central authority’ in adoption and child care.
The National Authority for Child Care (NACC), through its regional office in Central Visayas, urged all the aspiring parents to not engage in the illegal process of adoption, following the recent issue on the illegal buying and selling of babies through Facebook.
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NACC, an attached agency to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), was established in 2022 through Republic Act No. 11642, is mandated ‘to exercise powers and functions as the central authority in domestic administrative adoption, intercountry adoption, and alternative child care.’
Concepcion Solera, officer-in-charge of the regional office of NACC (RACCO), said that selling babies on Facebook had been “very alarming” because it had violated certain laws in the country.
“Marami siyang batas na nilabag like sa RA 11642 and even the [human] trafficking. Kaya po mino-monitor po talaga siya sa NACC ngayon yung mga baby selling sa FB page,” Solera said.
(It violates several laws in RA 11642 and even [human] trafficking. It’s up to you but the NACC is really monitoring the selling of babies in an FB page.)
Based on their monitoring, they learned that some babies were sold at P3,000 to P10,000.
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In Central Visayas, Solera said that their agency is monitoring five Facebook pages in coordination with the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7).
“So far, wala pa po tayong napakulong kasi undergoing pa sila (NBI) sa investigation and monitoring dun sa FB page,” Solera added.
(So far, we still have not send somebody to jail because they [NBI] were still undergoing investigation and monitoring of the FB page.)
Mhike Palanca, Social Welfare Officer 3 of NACC, said that NACC Undersecretary Janella Estrada had coordinated with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) through the Women and Children Protection Center “to address the emergence of these Facebook groups and pages that engage illegal adoption.”
Palanca added that by coordinating with other agencies in tracking down the Facebook pages, they aimed to intensify the community awareness that “illegal adoption is not an option.”
“This is tantamount to human trafficking kasi [it] involves sale of children. Imagine, babies being sold for an amount and we do not know kung saan silang klaseng pamilya mapupunta, so we have to go through legal adoption process,” Palanca said.
(This is tantamount to human trafficking because [it] involves sale of children. Imagine, babies being sold for an amount and we do not know what kind of family they will be sent, so we have to go through the legal adoption process.)
READ MORE: Social worker: Don’t throw your babies away, seek DSWD’s help instead
Planning to adopt?
Solera has called those who would want to adopt children to visit their office in Mandaue City or to the nearest municipal or city social welfare office because all local government units were already informed and oriented about RA 11642.
“The social worker will assess them, yung motivation nila, yung intention nila to adopt. Kasi, yan talaga ang hahanapin ng social worker…Kasi baka in-adopt mo lang pero iba yung motivation mo,” Solera said.
(The social worker will assess them, their motivation, their intention to adopt. Because that is what the social worker will really look for…because who knows you might adopt but you have a different motivation for doing it.)
“Kung mag-aalaga ka ng bata dapat from the heart talaga,” she added.
(If you care for a child then it should be from the heart.)
She said that couples were not the only the eligible people who couls adopt children but also those who were single, and members of the LGBTQIA++.
Palanca said that their office had already issued 634 certifications declaring a child ‘legally available for adoption’ and 68 of it came from Central Visayas in 2023.
Adoption and Alternative Child Care Week
On June 12, during the celebration of the 126th Independence Day, the NACC through its regional office, conducted an adoption forum at the SM Seaside City in Cebu City.
Moreover, last June 9, RACCO launched their ‘BISIG KLETA’ in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental as part of the commencement of the Adoption and Alternative Child Care Week which takes place every second week of June.
RACCO said that this year’s theme, “#EveryChildMatters: A New Era in Adoption and Alternative Child Care,” highlights their commitment to ensuring that every child receives the care and love they deserve.
“The National Authority for Child Care and the Regional Alternative Child Care Office 7 remains committed to advocating for the rights and well-being of all children and looks forward to a future where every child has a loving home,” the agency said in a statement.
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