PAMPANGA Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has filed a bill seeking to strengthen, facilitate and simplify the adoption process of abandoned children. The United Nations Children’s Rights and Emergency Relief Organization data chalked up about 1.8-million abandoned children in the Philippines, Arroyo said. Under the measure, the NCCA, to be headed by an executive director, shall have two divisions: The Domestic Child Care Division and Inter-Country Child Care Division. Each committee is composed of a child psychiatrist or psychologist, a medical doctor, a lawyer, a registered social worker and a member of a non-government organization involved in alternative child care. Arroyo’s HB 5090 also increases the age of children available for inter-country adoption to below 18 years of age from the present below 15 years of age.

Source: The Standard July 13, 2017 16:07 UTC