Text of the provision
Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. – For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be defined as:
(a) "Child" is a person below eighteen
(18) years of age.
(b) "A child legally available for adoption" refers to a child who has been voluntarily or involuntarily committed to the Department or to a duly licensed and accredited child-placing or child-caring agency, freed of the parental authority of his/her biological parent
(s) or guardian or adopter
(s) in case of rescission of adoption.
(c) "Voluntarily committed child" is one whose parent
(s) knowingly and willingly relinquishes parental authority to the Department.
(d) "Involuntarily committed child" is one whose parent(s), known or unknown, has been permanently and judicially deprived of parental authority due to abandonment; substantial, continuous, or repeated neglect; abuse; or incompetence to discharge parental responsibilities.
(e) "Abandoned child" refers to one who has no proper parental care or guardianship or whose parent
(s) has deserted him/her for a period of at least six
(6) continuous months and has been judicially declared as such.
(f) "Supervised trial custody" is a period of time within which a social worker oversees the adjustment and emotional readiness of both adopter
(s) and adoptee in stabilizing their filial relationship.
(g) "Department" refers to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
(h) "Child-placing agency" is a duly licensed and accredited agency by the Department to provide comprehensive child welfare services including, but not limited to, receiving applications for adoption, evaluating the prospective adoptive parents, and preparing the adoption home study.
(i) "Child-caring agency" is a duly licensed and accredited agency by the Department that provides twenty four (24)-hour residential care services for abandoned, orphaned, neglected, or voluntarily committed children.
(j) "Simulation of birth" is the tampering of the civil registry making it appear in the birth records that a certain child was born to a person who is not his/her biological mother, causing such child to lose his/her true identity and status.
Domestic Adoption Act of 1998, Republic Act No. 8552 (1998). Reproduced in full from the official enactment and verified word-for-word against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings.
What this section means
Key words are fixed here: a “child” is anyone below eighteen (18) years of age; a child is “legally available for adoption” when voluntarily or involuntarily committed and freed of parental authority; an “abandoned child” is one deserted for at least six (6) continuous months and judicially declared as such. It also defines supervised trial custody (a social worker overseeing how adopter and adoptee settle together), the Department as the DSWD, child-placing and child-caring agencies — the latter giving twenty-four (24)-hour residential care — and “simulation of birth”, the tampering of the civil registry to make a child appear born to a woman who is not the biological mother.
Related provisions
Cases citing this section
- Authorities on this section will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.