Cagayan de Oro — As its celebration to February’s Adoption Consciousness Month, the Department of Social Welfare and Development here has lined up activities to share to the communities the benefits of adoption, both to families and to the adoptees.

With this year’s theme as “Legal na Ampon ako, anak na Totoo (A Child finds worth in Legal Adoption),” the DSWD will be showcasing success stories on adoption to the public this month through various adoption dialogues and advocacy activities. This is to encourage potential families to consider adoption, and to orient them on how it is processed.

Because of the lengthy process of adoption in the past years, which becomes an emotional upheaval to interested potential parents and their adoptees, Republic Act 9523 or “An Act Requiring the Certification of DSWD to Declare a ‘Child Legally Available for Adoption (CDCLAA)’ as a Prerequisite for Adoption Proceedings” was implemented by the DSWD to reduce the time period before a child is considered abandoned.

This after several dialogues has been made with potential families, non-government organizations, civil society groups, and government agencies, regarding the issue on the lengthy process of adoption.

DSWD has been the forefront in ensuring that children who are declared as abandoned will find loving and suitable adoptive parents to whom they can legally call “family.”

Written by Charmaine P. Tadlas, DSWD