We get a lot of questions regarding adoption. The two most frequently asked questions are:
- Can I adopt from your orphanage?
- What is the process for adoption?
Both of these questions break our hearts. The answer to number one is “No, we are not able to adopt out directly to the public.” And the answer we give for number two is two-fold. We refer inquiries for the process of adoption to this link on our website – How To Adopt A Filipino Child. The document goes into a lot of detail about the process for adopting and gives tips and directions for every step whether you live in the Philippines or abroad. As well, we refer those interested in adoption to the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) as they have many requirements and steps you must take to adopt.
However, the reason the original two questions above break our hearts is found in this graph.
So very few Filipino orphans are adopted out every year. Can you imagine, in 2019, less than 100 children were adopted into their forever home out of the nearly 2,000,000 orphaned and abandoned children in the Philippines!
Why are so few Filipino children adopted every year? For starters, there is an obvious bottleneck in the process for adoption in the Philippines. In spite of the International Adoption Simplification Act of 2010, the process is still overly burdensome and expensive. In fact, after working in the Philippines for almost 10 years, we can confidently say the system does not work. This is grievous as those who truly suffer are those waiting to be adopted.
In the meantime, we will continue to shine a spotlight on this problem and build more orphanages. We want to provide shelter, food, clothing, clean water, education, and healthcare to the Philippines most vulnerable – their precious orphans.
