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We live in the United States and have been sponsoring a little girl in the Philippines for the last 3 years. Her father is deceased and her mother has never been involved in her life. She has been raised by her fraternal grandmother since birth. The girl is now almost 8 years old. Her grandmother had been ill, but seems ok now, although she is unable to work. We've discussed adopting the little girl with the grandmother to ensure the girl's future. We would love to do this and the grandmother would love for us to, as would the little girl. A couple of sources have told us that this type of adoption is not possible from the Philippines. They said that the local adoption board would never approve it. We've reached out to the board but they haven't responded to our emails. Does anybody know? If it is possible, what steps do we need to take to achieve that as quickly as possible? If this type of adoption is not possible, is there any way we can be named as the girl's guardians should something happen to the girl's grandmother? We don't want her to end up with nobody to care for her. We want to help, but we just don't know the local rules.
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Hi, a prospective adoptive parent (PAP) from the US, referred by DSWD of the Philippines lately emailed me w/ the same case as yours... About us: My husband and I are almost done with our own process (international relative adoption). Our boy already had his immigration medical exams a few weeks ago. Am here in the Philippines for more than a year now with our child (to be adopted) until we get his Canadian visa, hopefully soon. I firmly believe it is possible for you to adopt the child you are supporting, but it is going to be difficult... Important: Since the child still got one parent living (mom), DSWD will exhaust all means to seek d approval of the birth mom, or go to court (if mom's whereabouts is unknown) for an order to declare the child free (for adoption). This process will take a while as there will be publications to be done to find the birth mother and give her a chance to assume parenthood. If the mother is found and she is willing to have the child be adopted, ICAB will require a Deed of Voluntary Commitment (dvc) from the bio mom (even then, the mom will still be given another 6months from signing the dvc, to change her mind). On the other hand, if the mom is not found after a certain period, any of the living relatives (the grandma who is d present custodian will be given priority) to adopt her before declaring the child to be available for open local, and then international adoption. Since in principle the grandma already agreed with you re adoption, she will be the one required to sign a dvc for the obvious reason that she s old and sick, and she wanted to insure the welfare of the child by giving her up for adoption. NOTES (I suggest you visit the website of the Philippines' Inter-country Adoption Board for further guidance): 1) In the Philippines, first and foremost, per law, the child will first be declared as a legally free child (adoptable), the process is tedious as laid out above. This will be initiated by the Philippines' Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); 2) The child will then be listed in a Rooster for adoptable children in the Philippines, prospective adoptive parents residing in the Philippines gets the highest priority (This means, u have to pray that she is not locally adopted within the given period. After 6 months in d list, if not locally adopted, DSWD will declare the child to be available for international adoption); 3) Once available for international adoption, she will be put in another rooster. You can file for international adoption thru your central authority and Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) of the Philippines. I trust you can easily be given priority amongst other foreign PAPs since you were supporting the child already for many years unless ICAB found a better match for the child. Anyway, your home country's central authority will work it out with ICAB. Please feel free to contact me in case there is anything else I can do for u. I wish you the best in ur bid to adopt the girl. Bless you for helping this particular girl all these years! Best regards, k
mgottlieb
We live in the United States and have been sponsoring a little girl in the Philippines for the last 3 years. Her father is deceased and her mother has never been involved in her life. She has been raised by her fraternal grandmother since birth. The girl is now almost 8 years old. Her grandmother had been ill, but seems ok now, although she is unable to work. We've discussed adopting the little girl with the grandmother to ensure the girl's future. We would love to do this and the grandmother would love for us to, as would the little girl. A couple of sources have told us that this type of adoption is not possible from the Philippines. They said that the local adoption board would never approve it. We've reached out to the board but they haven't responded to our emails. Does anybody know? If it is possible, what steps do we need to take to achieve that as quickly as possible? If this type of adoption is not possible, is there any way we can be named as the girl's guardians should something happen to the girl's grandmother? We don't want her to end up with nobody to care for her. We want to help, but we just don't know the local rules.