The Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region recently held the first Regional Congress on Foster Care and Adoption which carried the theme, “A family for every child.” The congress aimed to promote understanding and appreciation on foster care and adoption programs in the Philippines.
Through the congress, DSWD-NCR strengthened its partnership with the different sectors involved in alternative family care program. It was attended by 186 participants from child caring and child placing agencies, local government units, family courts and the Foster/Adoption Support Group. Also present were representatives from the medical field, media and the academe. It also became a venue to address issues and concerns on foster care and adoption.
Highlights of the event include the presentation of the regional situationer on children needing alternative parental care, which was discussed by Ms. Glenda M. Derla, Social Welfare Specialist for Children. Included in her presentation were statistics on children in centers/residential care facilities, licensed foster parents and adoptive families. As of September 2014, some 69 children are experiencing the joy and security of a caring family through foster care, while 47 licensed families are authorized to foster children in Metro Manila. Further, 171 children are looking forward to their placement families while 65 approved prospective adoptive couples are awaiting for their child.
Meanwhile, DSWD-NCR Director Ma. Alicia S. Bonoan discussed the interventions being provided by the government. Various strategic programs, namely: alternative parental care programs, Adoption, Foster Care and Legal Guardianship, were developed to serve the best interest of the child. The DSWD-NCR centers and residential care facilities also provide temporary child care and custody. Currently, there are competent social workers handling cases on adoption and foster care. There are several inter-agency committees and support groups that are in place and functional, such as the Regional Committee for the Welfare of Children (RCWC) and the Foster/Adoption Support Group, being the two most prominent.
Testimonials were a part of the event. The foster child sector was represented by Mr. Mark Diamante, a former foster child from NORFIL who gave a video testimonial. He was among the street children during a rescue by the Oplan Sagip-Yagit of the Quezon City Police District in May 1993. Having no parents or relatives to fetch him, Mark was referred to the former DSWD-Lingap Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa, for residential care. He was eventually endorsed to NORFIL Foundation and was subsequently placed in one of its licensed foster homes in Montalban, Rizal. Currently, Mark has earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) and is working in a job placement agency. He is now happily married, with a five-year old daughter. Looking back, Mark was thankful to the foster families who welcomed him for without them, he would have not achieved his laurels now.
The keynote speaker for the congress is Atty. Ruby Alvarez-Cacdac, an adoptive mother. Her testimony revolved around their experience while undergoing the process of adoption. In her speech, she described adoption as “one where the process, each step we believe, is as valuable as the outcome; the journey is as beautiful as the dream.” Further in her speech, she emphasized the need for every child to be in a home by saying: “we know there are many ways to improve or streamline the process but if we are to find a family for every child, we need to find a way to connect the family to the child, still through this process…its very legal, very tedious, very cumbersome, but there is value in it, there’s beauty in it and there is importance in every step.” She ended her message by citing the situation where she was asked by the presiding judge if she had any regret about the adoption. Atty. Cacdac answered “yes, your honor, I regretted not making this decision a long, long time ago.”
The event was also a venue to award a check for foster care subsidy, as provided under Republic Act (RA) No. 10165 or the Foster Care Act of 2012. Two (2) foster families claimed their checks, one from the local government unit of Muntinlupa and one from the child caring agency. Ms. Myrna Concepcion from Muntinlupa City received a check for her foster son, John Michael, amounting to Php 55,000.00 from January to November while Ms. Flordeliza Doctor from Kaisahang Buhay Foundation received her check worth Php 12,000.00 from July to September 2014.
The last activity during the event was the commitment signing. The participants sealed their commitment to children in need of special protection, written on starfish-shaped paper. ###