16 April 2015 – Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations Ambassador Cecilia B. Rebong assured visiting Philippine Social Welfare and Development Undersecretary Parisya H. Taradji that the Philippine Mission and Consulate General in Geneva will continue to provide consular services to the adoptive Filipino children under trial custody.
“Until such time that these Filipino children under trial custody acquires their adoptive parents’ nationality, they remain to be our sole responsibility in terms of providing consular services and assistance,” Ambassador Rebong explained.
She added that the Mission and Consulate General will also invite the adopted Filipino children and their adoptive families to the Filipino community Philippine Independence Day celebration and other Filipino Community and cultural immersion events. “This is to assist the adopted children in appreciating their Filipino heritage as well as their understanding of and integration into both Swiss and Philippine culture,” the Ambassador expounded.
DSWD Undersecretary Taradji, in her capacity as Alternate Chair of the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) of the Philippines, together with Board Member Atty. Del Prado, met with Geneva Philippine Consul General Enrico T. Fos to secure the cooperation and assistance of the Philippine Permanent Mission and Philippine Consulate General in Geneva, and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in general, in monitoring the status of Filipino children who are being adopted by Swiss nationals through the Bureau Genevois d’Adoption (BGA), an accredited foreign adoption agency based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Undersecretary Taradji explained that, as provided under RA 8043, otherwise known as the Inter-Country Adoption Act of 1995, the DFA is mandated to set up a unit in the Home Office and also in Foreign Service Posts (FSP) to handle adoption issues, in support of ICAB’s work.
Sections 14 of RA 8043 provides that “the Department of Foreign Affairs shall set up a system by which Filipino children sent abroad for trial custody are monitored and checked as reported by the authorized and accredited inter-country adoption agency as well as the repatriation to the Philippines of a Filipino child whose adoption has not been approved.”
The role of FSPs for adopted children during their transit from the Philippines to the country of their adoptive parents was highlighted also by the Undersecretary. He said their assistance was vital particularly in the trial custody period which can last up to a year, when the child is staying in the country of the adoptive parents while they wait for the adoption papers to be finalized.
Atty. Del Prado noted that there are around 7 children currently living with their adoptive families in Switzerland while waiting for their final adoption papers. END