Adopting a Child in the Philippines

What Changed Under RA 11642

RA 11642 turned the old Inter-Country Adoption Board into the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), under the DSWD. Only the NACC handles alternative child care (care for children outside their birth family), including adoption within the Philippines and adoption by people abroad. The law calls this "original and exclusive jurisdiction".

Instead of a court ruling, the NACC now grants adoption with an Order of Adoption. The law says it has the same effect as a court decree (ruling) of adoption. It is not a case against anyone, so there is no opposing side. Each region has a Regional Alternative Child Care Office (RACCO) that receives petitions (the written requests to adopt).

The NACC sets its own fees. RA 11642 allows socialized fees (lower fees for those who earn less), and the Public Attorney's Office gives free legal help, including notarization, to adoptive parents who qualify.

Who May Adopt

Under Section 21 of RA 11642, a Filipino may adopt if they are:

• at least 25 years old;
• of good moral character, never convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (a dishonest or shameful crime);
• emotionally and psychologically capable of caring for children;
• in a position to support and care for the child; and
• at least 16 years older than the child. This age gap is waived if the adopter is the child's biological parent, or the spouse of the child's parent.

Legal guardians and foster parents may adopt the child in their care. A foreigner may adopt if they have lived in the Philippines for at least five years, meet the same qualifications, and come from a country that has diplomatic relations with the Philippines and recognizes the adoption, with some exceptions for former Filipinos and relatives.

Married couples usually adopt together. One spouse may adopt alone in a few cases, such as adopting the other spouse's child.

Who May Be Adopted

• A child the NACC has declared legally free to be adopted (with a certificate called a CDCLAA);
• a legitimate child of one spouse, by the other spouse (step-parent adoption);
• a child born outside marriage, by an adopter who qualifies, to improve the child's legal standing;
• an adult who, before the adoption, was consistently treated by the adopters as their own child since childhood;
• a foster child, a child whose earlier adoption was cancelled (rescinded), and a child whose parents have died;
• a relative of the adopter, by blood or by marriage, up to the fourth degree of kinship.

Written consent (agreement) is needed from the child if 10 years or older, the biological parents or legal custodian, the adopter's own children who are 10 or older, and the spouse of the adopter or adoptee.

The General Steps

1. Ask the RACCO or NACC for a first assessment, and attend the required Pre-Adoption Forum (an orientation talk).
2. Prepare documents and the notarized Petition for Adoption.
3. A social worker prepares a home study (a report on the adopters and their home) and a child study (a report on the child).
4. File with the RACCO where you live. The petition is published once a week for three weeks in a newspaper sold widely in the area (this may be skipped for step-parent and relative adoptions).
5. For a child not yet in your care: matching with a child and supervised trial custody (a trial period living together) of up to six months, with monthly social worker visits. These can be shortened or skipped in relative, step-parent and adult adoptions.
6. You appear before the RACCO, which forwards the case to the NACC for decision.
7. If granted, the NACC issues an Order of Adoption. You bring it to the Local Civil Registrar within 30 days.
8. The PSA issues an amended Birth Certificate showing the adopter as parent, with the adopter's surname. The original is sealed. The new certificate has no note saying it was changed.

The law gives the NACC short deadlines for its review, but the whole process, with document gathering and publication, takes months. If the petition is denied, you can ask the NACC to reconsider, and then appeal to the Court of Appeals.

Relative and Step-Parent Adoption

Adopting a niece, nephew, grandchild or first cousin (any relative up to the fourth degree), or your spouse's child, follows the same NACC route with fewer steps. If the child and the adopters have lived together for at least two years, matching is not needed, and the trial period may be skipped.

The NACC lists the documents for relative adoption, including PSA birth records, marriage or CENOMAR records, NBI or Police Clearances, medical and psychological evaluations, a child care plan, character references, proof of income, and the required consents.

Simulated Birth: When a Child Was Registered as Your Own

A simulated birth is when a child's birth record shows someone other than the biological mother as the mother, for example when a family took in a baby and registered them as their own. Doing this is a crime, but Republic Act No. 11222 (RA 11222), the Simulated Birth Rectification Act, offers a way out for past cases.

Under RA 11222, people who simulated a birth before the law took effect in 2019 may file a petition for adoption with a request to rectify (correct) the record. They are then freed from criminal, civil and administrative liability (they cannot be jailed, sued or penalized for it), if it was done for the child's best interest and the child has always been treated as their own. For the route through the NACC instead of a court, the child must have lived with them for at least three years before the law took effect. The petition must be filed within ten years from when the law took effect. The NACC now handles these petitions.

A simulated birth cannot be fixed by a simple correction at the civil registry under RA 9048. See the NACC's page for its requirements.