Prospective adoptive parents in the CALABARZON Region thank the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the faster and more convenient adoption process.

This is after the amendment of the Omnibus Guidelines on Domestic Adoption Process where the matching process of adoptive children to their prospective adoptive parents is now being conducted at the regional level rather than at the national level.

According to Ms. Lanie Tabios, social worker under the Adoption Resource and Referral Section of the DSWD Field Office IV-A, this process of the matching hastened the whole adoption process and became more convenient for the agency as well as the prospective parents and adoptive children.

“It is now easier to respond to issues and concerns during the matching since all the staff concerned are within reach. There is also a better turnout of matching a child to a prospective adoptive parent as both are based from the same region and share the same culture and values,” shared Tabios.

The matching conference is a part of the adoption process where a child welfare specialist group, composed of social workers, lawyer, pediatrician, psychologist and representatives from non-government organizations, deliberate on cases for selection of parents for adoptive children.

Ms. Teresita Apilaco, a prospective adoptive parent from Sta. Rosa City in Laguna Province, shared her gratitude for this improved adoption process.

“Dahil sa prosesong ito, hindi na kami madalas maabala o mag-absent sa trabaho para sa pag-aasikaso ng mga dokumento para sa adoption. [This process is more convenient because we no longer have to invest a lot of time and take a leave from work to process documents for the adoption],” Apilaco said.

With the matching being conducted at the regional level, prospective adoptive parents like Apilaco need not go to DSWD Central Office in Quezon City for this part of the adoption process.

Further, the improved adoption process also cut the procedure shorter with the elimination of the six-month supervised trial custody period where social workers conduct monitoring of the parents and the child prior to the finalization of the adoption.

“With this new process, the local adoption procedure now only takes four months as compared to the 11 months processing period before. This is from the submission of documents of prospective adoptive parents to the filing of petition for adoption in court,” said Tabios.

Ms. Luisa Gonda, a prospective adoptive parent from Bacoor City in Cavite Province, shared her gratitude for this faster process.

“Dahil sa mas maiksing proseso na ito, mas maaga naming nakasama ang adopted baby ko. [Because of the shortened process, we were able to take care of our adoptive baby sooner],” Gonda said.

In the region, eight domestic adoption cases were already processed since the implementation of the amended guidelines in July. There are also 26 adoptive children endorsed for inter-country adoption.#