QUEZON CITY -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in partnership with the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) and the Association of Child Caring Agencies of the Philippines (ACCAP), will conduct the 16th Philippine Global Consultation of Child Welfare Services on September 3 to 28, 2021 via online video conferencing.

Happening every two years, the Global Consultation will serve as a venue to discuss issues and share information to improve the placement and adoption of Filipino children, as well as to strengthen the coordination between the Philippines and the receiving country to ensure the best interest of adopted children during the new normal setting.

With the theme, “International Adoption in the Time of Pandemic: Good Practices, Issues, and Challenges,” the Global Consultation this year will focus on improving the processes and systems to guarantee that inter-country adoption in a virtual setting will be efficiently and effectively conducted even amid the pandemic.

Among the topics that will be discussed during the consultation include: Adoption in a Virtual World; Good Practices in Preparing Children for Adoption; Enhancing Continuity in Pre-adoption Child Care to Post-adoption Family Integration; Therapeutic Parenting Models for Special Situations; Reconciling Adoption Race, and Cultural Identity: Raising Awareness; and Sharing of Adult Adoptees.

The Global Consultation will be held twice a week and it will be participated in by central authorities, various experts and professionals from foreign and local adoption agencies, legal adoption advocates and specialists, adoptive parents, adopted children, and other partners.

Through the consultation, the Department hopes that the discussions will foster strong partnerships and create effective recommendations towards stronger child protection policies for inter-country adoption. (DSWD)