Declaration of Abandonment Bill

Declaration of Abandonment Bill

Senator Jamby Madrigal, chair of the Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations expressed her elation for having the bill on the Declaration of a Child Legally Available for Adoption signed into law today.

"Being a human rights advocate most especially that of children makes this development a personal victory. Every little step we make leads us to helping uplift the lives of these abandoned, neglected and surrendered children for adoption," she said.

This law seeks the transfer of cases involving the "Declaration of a Child Legally Available for Adoption" from the Family Courts to the DSWD, thereby changing the nature of this proceeding from judicial to administrative and reducing the period before the child may be considered abandoned to a maximum of three months from the original minimum of six months.

"These children live in a bleak, desperate world made more tragic by laws which hinder their chances to find a fresh start in loving homes. As a legislator, I must do everything I could to try to demolish the legal obstacles that prevent orphans and the abandoned to secure what we take for granted," she said.

At present, children are only considered abandoned if they have been deserted by their parents for six straight months. In the meantime, these children are in danger of fending for themselves in the streets and are vulnerable to drug addiction, crimes and sexual trafficking.

The law seeks to remove legal handicaps in existing laws that prolong the neglect of these children. It facilitates early placement of abandoned children by giving the DSWD the authority to issue a certification declaring the child legally available for adoption as a prerequisite to all adoption proceedings. The law limits the period for the child to be declared legally available for adoption from almost three years in court proceedings to less than two months.

According to Sen. Madrigal, this is a landmark law for children's rights advocates like herself who believe that the Filipino children are the hope of this nation. "Every child has a right to a family. Let us not deny them that by removing legal handicaps," she emphasized.