DSWD-7 puts up online adoption help desks

CEBU, Philippines —  The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas said it will continue its advocacy efforts to promote legal adoption through online adoption help desks while mass gatherings are still prohibited in public spaces like malls.

The agency said this during the nationwide simultaneous virtual kickoff activity last Feb. 6 for the 2021 Adoption Consciousness celebration.

DSWD-7 director Rebecca Geamala said that for the past 10 years, they have issued a total of 738 certifications declaring a child legally available for adoption (CDCLAA).

“The moment that we take care of these children is like doing the will of God. We do not know that out of these children who are being adopted legally will become great leaders of the future. And as we all know that the children are the hope of our country,” said Geamala in her video message during the kickoff activity.

The Adoption Consciousness celebration is done annually pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 72, series of 1999, declaring the first Saturday of February of every year as Adoption Consciousness Day.

DSWD-7 said the celebration aims to call for public attention and ensure nationwide awareness on legal adoption of orphaned, abandoned and neglected Filipino children in need of permanent home.

It added that the celebration’s theme, “Pagmamahal Palaganapin, Legal na Pag-aampon Ating Gawin!” (Spread Unconditional Love Through Legal Adoption), will be a continuation of the efforts to promote legal adoption as a form of unconditional love between parents and their adopted children.

The agency said that the theme also focuses on legal adoption as the only way to ensure that adopted children will have the same rights as that of biological children.

 After the virtual opening ceremony, the DSWD-7 also launched an art exhibit, which showcased the 13 posters from various child-caring agencies and residential care facilities that participated in the poster-slogan contest.

The posters are posted on the DSWD Region VII Facebook page for the online voting that will run until Feb. 11.

There is also a Color Your Station contest, which is participated in by different local government units in the region.

The participating LGUs will decorate either the interior or exterior of the local social welfare and development office or other conspicuous space within their city or municipal hall.

An online forum for LGUs, which will tackle the adoption case management, will be conducted on Feb. 18. On Feb. 22, an adoption forum will also be conducted to prospective adoptive parents. — JMD (FREEMAN)