Press Release
July 2, 2007

PIMENTEL PROPOSES IN INTER-COUNTRY
ADOPTION OF FILIPINO CHILDREN

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today filed a bill seeking to institute reforms in the process of inter-agency adoption of Filipino children to make it more responsive to the changes in the concept of international adoption.

One of the salient features of the bill is the removal of the age requirement for the adoption of a child.

It likewise seeks to rename the Inter-Country Adoption Board as the Inter-Country Adoption Authority (ICAA), and introduces structural changes in the ICAA.

"Each Filipino child deserves a family that will protect his or her best interests. It is therefore the policy of the State to find an adoptive family for any child found legally free for adoption and to establish an efficient system for the implementation of this policy," the bill states.

The legislative measure (Senate Bill 112) seeks to amend Republic Act 8043, otherwise known as "An act establishing the rules to govern inter-country adoption of Filipino children, enacted on June 7, 1995. The law was crafted under the guiding principles of The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption.

The primary purpose of The Hague Convention is to set-up a process which ensures that inter-country adoption of a child a determined to be in the childs best interests, and that all measures are taken to prevent abduction, sale or traffic of children.

The bill affirms the policy of the State to provide every neglected and abandoned child with opportunities for growth and development.

Towards this end, it states that efforts shall be exerted to immediately place the child with an adoptive family in the Philippines.

"However, recognizing that inter-country adoption offers the advantage of a permanent family to a child for whom a suitable family cannot be found in the Philippines, the State shall take measures to ensure that inter-country adoptions are allowed when the same shall prove beneficial to the childs best interest and shall serve and protect his/her fundamental rights."

Inter-country adoption refers to the socio-legal process of adoption a Filipino child by a foreigner or a Filipino citizen permanently residing abroad where the petition is filed, the supervised trial custody is undertaken and the decree of adoption is issued.

The bill defines a legally-free child as one who has been voluntarily or involuntarily committed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development or to a duly licensed and accredited child-placing agency, free of the parental authority of his/her biological parents or guardian or adopter in case of rescission of adoption, in accordance with the Child and Youth Welfare Code.

Under the bill, the Inter-Country Adoption Authority shall act as the central authority in matters relating to inter-country adoption and shall act as the quasi-judicial and policy-making body for purposes of carrying out the provisions of this legislation in consultation and coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the different government and non-government child-care and placement agencies, foreign adoptive agencies, as well as non-government organizations engaged in child and placement activities.

Senate Bill 112 provides that any alien or a Filipino citizen permanently residing abroad may file an application for inter-country adoption of a Filipino child if he/she is of legal age and at least 16 years older than the child to be adopted at the time of the application. It removes the age requirement for the adoption of a child, which is 27 years at the time of the adoption.

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