Section 3. Definition of Terms –
As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean:
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the agency charged to implement the provisions of this Act and shall have the sole authority to issue the certification declaring a child legally available for adoption.
Child refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or a person over eighteen (18) years of age but is unable to fully take care of himself/herself or protect himself/herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of physical or mental disability or condition.
Abandoned Child refers to a child who has no proper parental care or guardianship, or whose parent(s) have deserted him/her for a period of at least three (3) continuous months.
Foundling refers to a person whose fact/s of birth is/are unknown.
Neglected Child refers to a child whose basic needs have been deliberately unattended or inadequately attended within a period of three (3) continuous months. Neglect may occur in two (2) ways:
There is physical neglect when the child is malnourished, ill clad, and without proper shelter. A child is unattended when left by himself/herself without proper provisions and/or without proper supervision.
There is emotional neglect when the child is maltreated, sexually abused, raped, seduced, exploited, overworked, or made to work under conditions not conducive to good health; or is made to beg in the streets or public places; or when a child is left in moral danger, or exposed to gambling, prostitution, and other vices.
Dependent child is one who is without parent, guardian or custodian; or one whose parents, guardian or other custodian, for good cause desires to be relieved of his/her care and custody; and is dependent upon the public for support.
Involuntarily Committed Child refers to a child who the DSWD finds to be abandoned, neglected or dependent, by his/her parents or guardian and is ordered committed to the care and custody of the DSWD Centers or Institutions or to a licensed or accredited Child Caring/ Placing Agency or individual.
Voluntarily Committed / Surrendered Child refers to a child whose parent or legal guardian knowingly and willingly relinquished parental authority in writing through a notarized Deed of Voluntary Commitment to the DSWD or any duly licensed or accredited child placement or child-caring agency or institution.
Child Legally Available for Adoption refers to a child in whose favor a certification was issued by the DSWD that he/she is legally available for adoption after the fact of abandonment, neglect, or dependence has been proven through the submission of pertinent documents, or one who was voluntarily committed by his/her parent/s or legal guardian/s.
Child-caring agency (CCA) or institution refers to a private non-profit or government agency duly licensed or accredited by the DSWD that provides twenty- four (24) hour residential care services for abandoned, neglected, dependent or voluntarily committed children.
Child-placing agency (CPA) or institution refers to a private non-profit institution or government agency duly licensed or accredited by the DSWD that receives and processes applicants to become foster or adoptive parents and facilitates placement of children eligible for foster care or adoption.
Petitioner refers to the head or executive director of a licensed or accredited child-caring or child placing agency or institution managed by the national government, local government unit, non-government organization, or a provincial, city, or municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer who has actual custody of a minor and who files a petition to declare such child legally available for adoption, or who files such petition for a child under the custody of any other individual, agency or institution provided that the child’s custodian consents.
Secretary refers to the Secretary of the DSWD or his/her duly authorized representative.
Conspicuous Place refers to a place frequented by the public, such as but not limited to provincial/city/municipal halls/barangay halls, where a notice of a petition to declare a child legally available for adoption may be posted for the information of any interested person
Social Case Study Report (SCSR) refers to a written report of the result of an assessment conducted by a licensed social worker as to the socio-cultural and economic condition, psychosocial background, current functioning and facts of abandonment, neglect or dependence of the child. The report shall also state the efforts of the social worker to locate the child’s parent/s, legal guardian/s, relative/s and intervention / services provided to child’s parent/s , legal guardian/s or relative/s.
Legal Guardian refers to a person appointed by a court to protect the interest of a minor.