By Helen Flores

MANILA, Philippines – Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral recently said the bill seeking to shorten the adoption process in the country, now ready for signing by President Arroyo, is expected to increase the number of Filipino children declared as legally free for adoption.

Child welfare advocates have also welcomed the recent passage of the bill in the bicameral conference committee.

Cabral said the bill simplifies rules for adopting children in the country and changes the process from judicial to administrative.

The measure seeks the transfer of cases involving the declaration of children legally available for adoption from the Family Court to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“We always maintain that there is no better environment for children than a family,” Cabral said in a press conference in Quezon City.

Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana said it used to take three to five years before a child could be legally adopted, but with the amendment of the Domestic Adoption Act of 1995, the adoption process can be done in one to two years.

“In the administrative procedure, declaring a child legally free for adoption will take 24 days from the date of filing of petition with the DSWD, while in the court proceedings the process takes more than one year from the time of filing the petition until the Court releases the order declaring whether the child is an abandoned or neglected child,” Gana said.

Gana said most foster parents prefer infants.

“They want to adopt babies because they want to feel that they are the real parents,” she said.

John Boren, president of the Adopted Families Foundation, said that while he welcomed the approval of the bill by Congress, there is also a need to push for the lowering of fees of lawyers who handle adoption cases.

Boren, a foster parent, said if there is a group of lawyers who would charge lower fees, prominent and high caliber lawyers would be forced to reduce their professional payment.

He said when the bill is passed into law, foreigners like him will find it easier to adopt a child in the country.

The DSWD and child-caring agencies would also set up adoption help desks in SM malls to provide free consultation to prospective adoptive parents who want to seek advice on adoption procedures.

An estimation of 2% in U.S. population are adoptees or about 6 million Americans. Surveys state that a huge number of these adoptees and birth parents have, at some point, activly searched for biological parents or children separated by adoption. These people search for many different reasons, including medical knowledge, the desire to know more about the individual’s life, or a major life event, such as the death of an adoptive parent or the birth of a child. The most common reason given, however, is genetic curiosity – a desire to find what a birth parent or child looks like, their talents, and their personality.

Whatever your reasons for deciding to start an adoption search, it is important to realize that it will most likely be a difficult, emotional adventure, full of amazing highs and frustrating lows. Once you’re ready to undertake an adoption search, however, these steps will help you get started on the journey.

Beginning the Search
The first objective of an adoption search is to discover the names of the birth parents who gave you up for adoption, or the identity of the child you relinquished.

1. Just like a genealogy search, an adoption search should always begin with yourself. Write down everything you know about your birth and adoption, from the name of the hospital in which you were born to the agency which handled your adoption.

2. The best place to turn next, is your adoptive parents. They are the ones most likely to hold possible clues. Write down every bit of information they can provide, no matter how insignificant it may seem. If you feel comfortable, then you can also approach relatives and family friends with your questions.

3. Gather together all available documents. Ask your adoptive parents or contact the appropriate government official for documents such as an amended birth certificate, petition for adoption, and the final decree of adoption.

4. Contact the Agency or the State that handled your adoption for your non-identifying information. This non-identifying information will be released to the adoptee, adoptive parents, or birthparents, and may include clues to help you in your adoption search. The amount of information varies depending upon the details that were recorded at the time of the birth and adoption. Each agency, governed by state law and agency policy, releases what is considered appropriate and non-identifying, and may include details on the adoptee, adoptive parents, and birth parents such as:
* Medical history
* Health status
* Cause of and age at death
* Height, weight, eye, hair color
* Ethnic origins
* Level of education
* Professional achievement
* Religion

On some occasions, this non-identifying information may also include the parents ages at time of birth, the age and sex of other children, hobbies, general geographical location, and even the reasons for the adoption.

5. Register in State and National Reunion Registries, also known as Mutual Consent Registries, which are maintained by government or private individuals. These registries work by allowing each member of the adoption triad to register, hoping to be matched with someone else who might be searching for them. One of the best is the International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR).

6. Join an adoption support group or mailing list. Beyond supplying much needed emotional support, adoption support groups can also provide you with information concerning current laws, new search techniques, and up-to-date information. Adoption search angels may also be available to assist with your adoption search.

7. If you’re very serious about your adoption search and have the financial resources (there is usually a substantial fee involved), consider petitioning for the services of a Confidential Intermediary (CI). Many states and provinces have instituted intermediary or search and consent systems to allow adoptees and birth parents the ability to contact each other through mutual consent. The CI is given access to the complete court and/or agency file and, using the information contained in it, attempts to locate the individuals. If and when contact is made by the intermediary, the person found is given the option of allowing or refusing contact by the party searching. The CI then reports the results to the court; if the contact has been refused that ends the matter. If the person located agrees to contact, the court will authorize the CI to give the name and current address of the person sought to the adoptee or birthparent. Check with the state in which your adoption occurred as to the availability of an Confidential Intermediary System.

Once you’ve identified the name and other identifying information on your birth parent or adoptee, your adoption search can be conducted in much the same way as any other people search investigation.

For foster families who choose to adopt the child or children in their care, there are a number of ways to help these children make the emotional transition from being “a ward of the State or the Court” to being “a son or daughter” of specific parents. While parents may appreciate the difference in the child’s role within their family, children may not clearly comprehend the difference between being a foster child versus being an adopted child when they continue to live in the same family. There are specific things families can say and do to help children understand these differences. This factsheet describes:

* Talking with children about the changes
* Activities to help children understand their own history and background
* Helping children adjust to losses
* Helping children transfer attachments

Talking With Children About the Changes

In preparing to talk to children about the changes that occur with adoption, parents and other caring adults in children’s lives should remember to engage the child in the process and listen carefully to the words the child uses and to the questions the child asks. Questions about the birth family and their status may need to be addressed. It is important to always tell the truth – even if it is painful – and to validate the child’s experience and feelings. While these talks may bring up painful feelings for children, and for parents who love them, helping children to grieve can also help them to move on to a feeling of permanency in their foster/adoptive family.

Talks between parents and children about the differences in status within the foster family and the adoptive family will probably need to be repeated several times and in a variety of ways, so children can fully understand at their own level. It is best if these conversations take place when the parent and child are engaged in activities together. Adoption professional H. Craig-Oldsen offers the following suggestions for making these talks beneficial for the child:

Plan the discussion. In collaboration with the social worker, the parents should decide if they want to talk with the child first and have the social worker reinforce what was said in a later conversation, or if they would like to talk to the child together about the change from being in foster care to being adopted. Parents should be prepared to answer the child’s questions that may be raised by the discussion.

Help the child talk about the perceived difference in his or her own words. The parents should ask open-ended questions of the child such as, “How do you think being adopted will be different from being in foster care?” or “What do you think the biggest difference will be, when you’re adopted?”

Help the child draw analogies to something in the child’s own life. For instance, a parent might say, “This is like the time when . . . .”

There are a number of changes in status that will affect the child, and these should be discussed, depending on the child’s developmental level.

1. To help the child understand the legal differences between foster care and adoption, foster parents might talk about how the adoption court hearing is different from other court hearings the child might have remembered from foster care. Some parents may explain adoption by using marriage as an analogy. The court hearing is like the marriage ceremony, and the adoption certificate is like the marriage certificate that makes the relationship legal and permanent. (Parents who use this analogy should be prepared for questions about divorce, depending on the child’s experience.)

2. Older children who are aware of the foster care board payment or adoption assistance their parents receive might be helped to understand the financial differences inherent in foster care and adoption. These payments might be compared to a child’s allowance; older children may be able to understand the payments as costs to meet the child’s needs. Experienced adoptive parents note the importance of honesty, compassion, and developmental appropriateness in conversations with children regarding these issues.

3. To help children understand the parenting differences between foster care and adoption, parents might remind the child that when in foster care, the parents had to get a permission slip signed by an agency social worker to go on a field trip, spend the night at a friend’s house, or travel across State lines; now that their foster parents are their legal parents, the parents can sign permissions for these types of things without needing to go through an agency or court.

Generally, an adopted child inherits from adoptive parents and may not inherit from biological parents unless specifically named in a will; however, in the states of Colorado, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming, the adopted person’s right to inherit from birthparents and birth relatives is retained. In some states (for example, Kansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma), whether or not an adopted person is excluded from inheriting from birthparents is not addressed while in many states the adopted person is specifically excluded from inheriting from birthparents.

Although an adopted person may inherit from adoptive parents, whether or not the adopted person will also inherit from adoptive grandparents is not always clear and depends on state laws.

It is best to review current state law and consult an attorney in the event of a question or a desire to provide an inheritance for an adopted-away child. (Two legalistic terms used when discussing inheritance are “adopted-away” and “adopted-in.” An adopted-away child is a child who is born to a family and then leaves the birthparents because of adoption. An “adopted-in” child is a child that enters a family by adoption.)

If the child is adopted by nonrelatives, inheritance generally must come through adoptive parents; however, as recently as 1986, a challenge was made to this assumption in New York. Jessie Best wrote her will in 1973 and provided for her assets to be given to her “issue.” Her daughter had given birth 21 years earlier to a son who had been adopted by nonrelatives.

The executor’s of Best’s will discovered the existence of the adopted child. With the permission of the birthmother, who also had a child born within wedlock, the trustees asked the adoption agency for identifying information since the adopted adult might stand to inherit a considerable sum.

The adoption agency told the adoptive parents, who disclosed the son’s legal name. When the birthmother died in 1980, the trustees asked the court to determine whether the adopted child would share in the division of assets with the child born within wedlock and not adopted.

The court decided the adopted child was “issue” and could inherit; however, the court of appeals overturned this decision.

In a very unusual case, adopted adult Cathy Yvonne Stone alleged she was the birthdaughter of Hank Williams, the late singer. Stone sued to receive part of the royalties accruing to Williams’ estate. Her suit was rejected at a lower court level, but, on appeal, a federal court decided she was entitled to have her case heard by a jury. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this decision. In addition, the Supreme Court refused to overturn an Alabama Supreme Court decision that decreed Stone was a lawful heir to the estate of Williams.

In the case of a STEPPARENT ADOPTION, the adopted child may inherit from both birthparents and the stepparent in some states, but in other states, the adopted child may only inherit from the custodial parent and stepparent. (See STEPPARENTS.) Author Anne Wiseman French wrote, “In stepparent adoption situations, many states’ statutes mirror New York’s law before the 1987 amendments and preserve the child’s inheritance rights only from and through the biological parent having custody of the child. Other states, however, preserve the child’s inheritance rights from both biological parents.”

If you’ve recently adopted a child, you’re probably both excited about the new addition to your family and concerned about her health history. While adoption can bring unique health and developmental challenges, you don’t have to face them on your own: Your pediatrician can help you meet your baby’s specific needs. Here are tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics to get your child off to a healthy start:

* Get a medical evaluation. Your baby’s doctor can assess her growth and development and conduct age-appropriate screening tests, such as checking for possible anemia and a visual or hearing impairment. If your child hasn’t been immunized or if no record is available, she’ll get a full series of immunizations. (There’s no harm in repeating shots if the records are unclear.) You can also ask the doctor to review preadoption files, if available, in order to help you understand any current or potential medical, developmental, and mental health needs your baby may have.

* Be aware that international adoptees may have special medical needs. If your baby was born in a foreign country, the pediatrician may screen her for hepatitis B and C, HIV, intestinal parasites, syphilis, and tuberculosis, in addition to standard newborn screening tests. While some foreign-born babies may be malnourished, they usually thrive on a normal diet. These children can also get several illnesses soon after they arrive in a new environment, but this, too, is generally a temporary condition. Finally, babies from certain countries may be at higher risk of exposure to drugs or alcohol in the womb. Your pediatrician can help you anticipate and deal with any related health or developmental issues.

* Prepare for the future. Begin telling your child the story of her adoption now, and make “adoption” and other related words part of your everyday language. Any level of openness you can build when your child is young will help as she gets older and starts to ask questions. Plan to discuss adoption with your child as soon as she’s able to understand, usually around age 3.

* Deal with others. Even when adoption is handled well at home, there may be relatives who aren’t quite as understanding  — especially when a child is of a different race or from another country. If this happens, explain that your baby is as much a part of the family as anyone else. You may not be able to change their mind or correct old-fashioned thinking, but it’s important to show loyalty to your child. Your pediatrician can be a valuable source of support and can refer you to local community resources for adoptive families. The better you understand adoption, the better you can teach your child to be proud of who she is.

Closed adoption is an adoption where in the adoption records are kept sealed. It means that the biological parent has surrendered their capacity and authority as a parent of the adoptee’s life. Closed adoption is also associated with “secret” or “traditional” adoption, although itis not, in fact, traditional at all. Closed adoption largely arose in the 20th century, in response to changing social values about adoption. The opposite of a closed adoption is an open adoption, in which the records are left open, creating the potential for contact between the birth parent and the adoptive family.

Closed Adoption: Advantages for Birth Parents

The closed adoption experience is different for each person; however here is a list of potential advantages that you might encounter with a closed adoption:

* Sense of closure-Some birth mothers and birth families report that having a closed adoption provides a sense of closure and enables them to move on with life.

* Privacy-Placing a child for adoption is an extremely sensitive and vulnerable choice. Having a closed adoption creates an opportunity for a stronger sense of privacy.

* Reduced fear-Some birth mothers are concerned about explaining their choice and a closed adoption serves as a way to prevent them from a confrontation with a child placed for adoption.

A closed adoption refers to an adoption process where there is no interaction between the birth mother and the prospective adoptive families. There is no identifying information provided to either the birth families or the adoptive families. Non-identifying information such as physical characteristics and medical history may be provided to both parties. When considering a closed adoption, there are a number of disadvantages that need to be thought through carefully for all parties involved.

Several organizations facilitate contact between birth parents and adoptees who are interested in connecting later in life. These groups provide records searches or offer registries of people who are seeking each other out. In a situation where a child or birth mother wants to get in touch, a letter will typically be sent by a third-party intermediary, indicating that contact is desired and leaving the decision up to the recipient of the letter.

LILONGWE (Reuters) – U.S. pop star Madonna is still keen on adopting a second child from Malawi, despite a court ruling in the southern African country preventing her from doing so, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.

Madonna, who lost an appeal against a High Court decision refusing her bid to adopt a four-year-old girl named Mercy James, said she wants to provide education and a family environment for the young girl.

“I want to provide Mercy with a home, a loving family environment and the best education and healthcare possible. And it’s my hope that she like David, will one day return to Malawi and help the people of their country,” Madonna told the Nation on Sunday newspaper in an emailed response to questions.

“Though I have been advised that I cannot publicly discuss the pending appeal regarding my desire to adopt Mercy, I do want to say how much I appreciate the level of support that I have received from the people of Malawi and my friends around the world.”

Malawi’s government came under fire after Madonna adopted a 13-month-old child, David Banda, in 2006, with critics accusing it of giving her special treatment by skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children.

Madonna’s lawyer, Alan Chinula, has already lodged a notice of appeal against the decision earlier this month but by last week the courts had not yet granted a date for the hearing.

In her ruling, Judge Esimie Chombo warned against celebrity adoptions, saying they could lead to child trafficking.

“Anyone could come to Malawi and quickly arrange for an adoption that might have grave consequences on the very children that the law seeks to protect,” she said.

Madonna has entertained millions around the world with sexy high-energy performances and songs like “Material Girl” and “Papa Don’t Preach,” and created controversies along the way.

The star, who was divorced last year from British film director Guy Ritchie, is one of the music industry’s most successful singers, with album sales of more than 200 million.

The Regional Development Council (RDC) recently passed a resolution endorsing to the local government units (LGUs) the Adopt-a-Malnourished Child Project.

The project is originally a brainchild of the provincial government of Southern Leyte . Because of its success and easy replicability in other areas, Governor Lerias has thought of seeking RDC endorsement of the project to other LGUs through the Social Development Committee (SDC) of the RDC. Earlier, the SDC deliberated on the project and after agreeing to its laudability, the project was then elevated to the RDC for further deliberation. The RDC, during its ExCom and Advisory Committee meeting last March 15 in Pasig City , also found the merits of the project, concurred with the SDC endorsement, and passed a resolution endorsing it to the LGUs for adoption regionwide.

The Adopt-a-Malnourished Project is an alternative way of helping solve the malnutrition problem in the region. Recognizing the government’s limited resources, it seeks sponsors who are willing to adopt a malnourished child. By “adopt”, the sponsor shoulders expenses for the deworming, supplementary feeding and micronutrient supplementation of a severely malnourished child.

The project is implemented following six simple steps: 1) The Provincial Nutrition Committee (PNC) selects the children to be adopted based on the latest results of the Operation Timbang (OPT), 2) Funds are solicited from potential benefactors using a leaflet with built-in sponsorship form, 3) The PNC treasurer receives the money from the sponsor and issues receipt then deposits money in a trust fund for the Project, out of which food supplements and other medical supplies are bought, 3) The PNC turns over the supplies to the Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC), which is in-charge of distribution to the target beneficiaries, 4) The Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs) do the supplementary feeding, supervised by the rural health midwife, 5) The Municipal Health Officers (MHOs), assisted by the midwives, make a monthly monitoring and physical examination of the children, and finally 6) A progress report on the growth and development of the children is submitted to the MNC, PNC and the sponsors. A working committee must be organized to run the project.

For Southern Leyte , the Project has already helped 19 malnourished children since it started implementation in 2004.

The RDC hopes that the project will be copied by the LGUs throughout the region, especially because as of the 2001 survey of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) , 32 percent of our preschoolers in the region are underweight. The government and private sector should join hands in bringing this figure down since malnutrition is a threat to the development of the region and the country.

Pros of Domestic Adoption

* It is more affordable due to reduced costs on travel and additional paperwork, even nonexistent if done through foster care.

* There is a chance of getting a newborn; you may be matched up with a birth mom who has not yet given birth.

* You will receive more detailed and accurate information about the biological parents medical information

* Most of the leg work is done by the adoption agency representatives and/or case workers, you will not be required to spend as much time on the adoption process.

Cons of Domestic Adoption

* Requirements for domestic adoptions are quite strict and qualifications for adopting families are also high.

* The biological mother may change her mind or unexpectedly refuse to give her child up for adoption. I believe there is a restriction on when she can do this, but that is not enough of a safeguard for most hopeful parents.

This can cause delays in the process or the whole adoption may be terminated. Unfortunately, this occurs more often during the final stages of the adoption process just when the adopting family is expecting a child.

*There are fewer children available for domestic adoption, especially if the adoptive parents prefer a child from a minority group.

International Adoption

When the adoptive parents live in a different country than the birth parents it is referred to as an international adoption and there is little or no contact between the parents.

Pros of International Adoption

* There are plenty of children available for adoption in many countries, both healthy and special needs.

* The requirements and qualifications for international adoption are less strict than other types of adoption; your chances of adopting are greater.

* You have a better chance at being eligible to adopt and once your home study is approved you can rest assured that you will have the child of your dreams.

* You don’t have to worry about whether the biological mother will change her mind. These children are most often orphaned. All you have to do is accept your referral of a child and before long they will be in your arms. (On average this process takes between 12-18 months)

Cons of International Adoption

* Be prepared for lots of red tape, delays as well as an increased potential for fraud. Some countries may not be politically stable, eg. you don’t need the government changing hands in the middle of your adoption process.

* Be prepared to travel to the country of your adoptive child. You may even be required to make more than one trip or stay for a few weeks at a time. You will need to learn the child’s culture and customs, maybe even their language

* You will not get a newborn because you will not be made aware of a child for adoption until after they are born. So by the time all the administrative hurdles are cleared and they are finally united with you and your family, they will likely be at least four to six months, maybe even a little older.

* Because the majority of these children have lived their first months or years in orphanages where the living conditions are less than decent, they may experience some developmental set backs.

This is not necessarily the case with all children and if they do have delays, chances are they will often rebound to the norm once they have a loving and supportive family to attend to their needs. Some people believe that, “Love doesn’t conquer all” but I say, “it certainly helps”.

* There may be no record of the family medical history and this could make you feel uncomfortable. You could always turn to modern medical testing to help. You will however, receive the child’s medical history when you get your referral.

The pros and cons of adoption have the potential to discourage the adopting family in many ways. But with an open mind and heart, overcoming the dilemma of adoption will definitely prove to be worthwhile.

A child being deserted by his parents can cause a severe trauma that will mirror through every aspect of child’s life. The baby will experience the mother’s loss as psychological death of his mother.  There will never be closure.

The baby feels he is abandoned and results to a lifelong inability to trust anyone. This experience will gradually affect him all through out his life. That is the reason why most of the adopted child fails to trust anyone because of the fear that he may be left alone again.

The baby perpetually  bothers as to why he wasn’t kept by his mom and will blame himself for not being good enough to be loved. Many adopted adult has this kind of burden that deters a good relationship to others. The child may also feel melancholic and remorseful as if he did something bad that decides his mom to leave  him.

As days pass by and as the child grows up, he may feel that he doesn’t belong to the family where he currently resides and will suffer self-esteem. He may decide not to get involve to any family activities and may prefer to be alone all by himself. He will feel like an outcast within the family who adopted him.

The child thinks of his mother and the reason behind why he was abandoned. This makes sense because the child longs for his mother and misses her terribly!  There is a wound there that can never be filled by anyone other than the mother!  This could cause the child to have trouble concentrating on his school work.  The child may be labeled a “dreamer” or a “bad student” which will harm his chances to succeed in life.  the adopters might not understand the reason for the child’s lack of concentration and this might cause him to be misdiagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  If misdiagnosed, the child will be forced to take medication he will not need.

The child will loose his true identity while the adopters will try to force him to be like them.  The reason for this is so that the adopters won’t be reminded that the child isn’t really theirs.  The adopters would want the true traits that the child inherits from his family to go away.  The child will not be allowed to be himself.

The child will have no sense of his past which will make it difficult to envision his future.

The child may suppress his real feelings and live an emotionally-numb life in order to survive the tragedy of the separation from his mother compounded by his adoption.

As the child becomes an adolescent he will have great difficulty establishing a sense of self because he will have no sense of his true history or heritage.

As the child becomes an adult, he may have trouble choosing a career and a mate due to his fear of committment and abandonment.

The child’s adopters may not acknowledge that raising an adopted child is different from raising a child of their own.  The adopters want to pretend that the child they raised is not adopted but their own child so they force the child to live a lie by wiping out his past and changing his name and forcing the child to become like the adopters rather than being allowed to be his own person. They will further burden the child by telling him that he should forget about his natural parents and be greatful that they adopted him and gave him a home because the natural parents did not.

Nothing anyone says or does can ever make up for the loss of the child’s first family!

The mother will not be able to change the past and undo the lifelong adverse effects of adoption on her child!