Extend love to disadvantaged, abandoned and neglected children

WITH Christmas just around the corner, the Department of Social Welfare and Development - Cordillera Administrative Region (DSWD – CAR) continues to promote unconditional love for children.

“This Christmas Season, one precious gift that we can share to our neglected and abandoned children is our unconditional love and acceptance. We can give toys, clothes, food, and other material things to children in our residential care facilities. But we would also like to encourage those who are interested to help to try spending time with our children for them to experience affection and attention that they seldom enjoy,” DSWD - CAR OIC regional director Leo Quintilla said.

DSWD - CAR maintains three (3) residential care facilities such as the Regional Haven for Women and Girls (Regional Haven), Regional Rehabilitation

Center for the Youth (RRCY) and the Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC).

RSCC serves as the home for abandoned, abused, and neglected children. Often times, children under the Alternative Parental Care Program are also admitted in the said center.

DSWD’s Alternative Parental Care program involves the processes of adoption and foster care. Through this, child care or placement services are provided to children in especially difficult circumstances who cannot be taken care of by their biological parents. This can be temporary and is called foster care that has the goal to provide temporary and planned substitute family care for the child while the biological family or relatives are being prepared for the child’s return or while a more appropriate permanent placement is being worked out.

Kinship care and legal guardianship may also fall under foster care where as relatives and/ or pre- identified individuals are given authority to look after the children.

“Alternative Parental Care, is a legal way of showing love and acceptance to the uniqueness of our children. They may come from a different bloodline from ours, but they are worthy to have a family and a home that they can call their own. We may have diverse beliefs and differing physical attributes, but we have been gifted the capacity to love.

May we all have the generosity to share our unconditional love not just this holiday season but all throughout the year by considering the option of adopting or fostering these children who are most in need,” Quintilla added.

As of December 15, DSWD - CAR recorded 67 licensed foster parents and is able to place 104 children for foster care.

Meanwhile, 18 children are declared available for adoption, 10 were placed for domestic adoption and eight were cleared for intercountry adoption. DSWD – CAR release