The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as the lead agency protecting the rights of children, continues to promote legal adoption as the only process that safeguards the best interest of abandoned, neglected, orphaned, and surrendered children.
Over the years, DSWD has been advocating the good benefits of legal adoption as well as promoting acceptance and respect to adopted children.
The Department upholds that all children, whether adopted or not, have rights which should be respected and promoted.
This includes the rights of children to have a family who will protect them against any form of abuse and exploitation.
DSWD also noted that legally adopted children have the same rights as that of biological children, which safeguards their welfare and right to have a loving and caring family.
DSWD and its partner registered child-placement and child-caring agencies and other national government agencies also continue to strengthen the advocacy of legal adoption through the annual observance of the Adoption Consciousness Celebration every month of February.
The Department also enhances its mechanisms for legal adoption in order to create a safe environment for adoptive children and protect them from the stigma of being adopted.
This is done by continuously advocating for the legal process of adoption through the conduct of adoption seminars, forum, and the posting of online materials promoting the advocacy.
These reiterations are made to ensure that activities in all forms and at all times should be made sensitive towards the identity of adopted children to prevent negative stereotypes.
Lastly, the Department encourages the public to help intensify the legal adoption advocacy to remove the negative connotation associated with adoption by promoting the process as a form of unconditional love that beautifully links parents and children who are unrelated by blood.
