FOSTER CARE. A total of 1,116 children in Central Visayas have been under foster care since 2023. According to Department of Social Welfare and Development-Central Visayas Director Shalaine Marie Lucero said Monday (Jan. 29, 2024), 354 children had been assessed for adoption. (Photo courtesy of DSWD-National Authority for Child Care)
CEBU CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development - National Authority for Child Care (DSWD - NACC) said Monday that 1,116 children in Central Visayas have been under foster care since 2023.
Of the total, 36 have been placed for administrative adoption while 58 were issued with Certificates Declaring a Child Legally Available for Adoption, said Shalaine Marie Lucero, DSWD- Central Visayas regional director.
As of December 2023, NACC had assessed 354 children under 13 child-care facilities in the Central Visayas region and placed 94 children for assessment and eventually, for adoption.
NACC executive director and Undersecretary Janella Estrada recently visited Cebu to drum up the foster care program of the government under Republic Act (RA) 11642 or the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act.
Estrada cited the Central Visayas region as the largest in the country in terms of the number of facilities and the number of children provided with alternative child care.
“They were here to encourage more Cebuano families to open up their homes, provide love and care to children who are ready for adoption or foster care,” Lucero told the Philippine News Agency.
Children who are declared abandoned, neglected, dependent, surrendered, orphaned, abused, and exploited are now under the care of the agency, while some are up for adoption and can be processed administratively through the Regional Alternative Child Care Office.
NACC is a newly created attached quasi-judicial agency of the DSWD under RA 11642.
All government programs and services related to adoption and alternative child care have been streamlined through NACC to enable faster and affordable legal adoption processes. (PNA)
