The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as the lead social protection agency, enjoins all Filipinos to support the legal adoption advocacy through the Adoption Consciousness Celebration (ACC) which will be held on February 6 to 12, 2021.

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

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.

The celebration will have its virtual kickoff on February 6 which will showcase the different messages of support of adoptive parents and adopted children. It will be followed by the launching of two animated videos, created in partnership with Consuelo Alger Foundation and the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB). The first animated video will be on the implementation of Republic Act No. 11222 or the Simulated Birth Rectification Act, while the second will feature the legal process of relinquishing parental authority through a notarized Deed of Voluntary Commitment to the DSWD or any duly licensed or accredited child placement or child-caring agency or institution.

In addition, an online media forum featuring legal adoption implementers from the national and local government, representatives from child-caring and child-placement agencies, and adoptive parents will also be conducted. The forum will discuss topics on the efforts of DSWD and partner-agencies in continuously implementing and providing services to children in need of permanent families and to prospective adopters amidst the pandemic. The online media forum will be posted live on the official DSWD Facebook page.

Meanwhile, those who have questions about the legal process of adoption are invited to send inquiries through the DSWD online adoption helpdesk link that will be pinned and posted on the official page of the Department.

DSWD will continue to intensify the advocacy efforts to promote legal adoption as the only way to safeguard the best interest of abandoned, neglected, orphaned, and surrendered children. ###Attachments area