SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union (PIA) – Forty-six barangay officials and members of the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) attended an orientation on Republic Act (R.A.) No. 11642, otherwise known as the “Domestic Administrative Adoption and Child Care Act,” organized by the Regional Alternative Child Care Office in Ilocos (RACCO 1), recently at the ABC Hall in this city.
The program, which is supported by the San Fernando city government, aims to provide information and provide local leaders with the knowledge to guide the community on the process of adoption and foster care and to prevent independent placement, child trafficking, and the simulation of birth records.
The orientation highlighted the salient points of R.A. No. 11642, adoption and alternative child care programs, and child labor as discussed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
R.A. 11642 enhances alternative child care by facilitating domestic adoption administrative processes and reorganizing the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) into the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), an attached agency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Jasmine Jet Dagdag, Social Welfare Officer III of the RACCO 1, meanwhile, stresses the responsibility of barangay leaders as the initial responders in these kinds of situations.
“As you already have an orientation regarding adoption and alternative child care, you should be our advocates at the barangay level,” Dagdag said.
She continued by saying that the barangay’s responsibility in adoption is to stop improper adoption procedures or illicit adoption practices.
On the other hand, Roda Ballesteros of the Ilocanos Norte BCPC Committee expressed her appreciation for their involvement in this effort, emphasizing the value of knowledge acquisition and dissemination for their community.
“Napakaimportante po ang ganitong program kasi pwede naming mai-share ang mga intervention sa barangay, kung ano ang pwedeng gawin doon sa mga bata na pwedeng i-enroll as an adoptee at sa mga adoptee parents na pwede namin silang i-guide tungkol doon sa program ng NACC,” Ballesteros said.
(This program is very important because we can share the interventions in the barangay, what can be done there with the children who can be enrolled as adoptees and with the adoptive parents so that we can guide them about that in the NACC program.)
Some of the programs of NACC include domestic administrative adoption, certification declaring a child legally available for adoption (CDCLAA), alternative child care programs such as regular foster care and residential care, regional matching conferences, and intercountry adoption.
RACCO 1 will keep strengthening its programs by working with local leaders and helping them direct individuals who are interested in adoption and alternative child care within their communities. (JCR/AMB/SGR, PIA La Union)
