The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), joined the Sinulog Festival Grand Parade on January 21, 2024.
NACC’s first-time participation in the annual Sinulog Festival aimed to raise public awareness about legal adoption, foster care, and other forms of alternative child care.
Undersecretary and NACC Executive Director Janella Ejercito Estrada led the contingent, which included NACC and Regional Alternative Child Care Office (RACCO) officials and staff.
“We are here to encourage more Cebuano families and all those who watch the Sinulog Grand Parade to open up their homes and provide love and care to abandoned, neglected, dependent, surrendered, orphaned, abused, and exploited children needing adoption and/or foster care,” said Undersecretary Estrada.
As of December 2023, NACC had assessed some 354 children under 13 child-care facilities in the Central Visayas region. The agency has also assessed 94 children for adoption.
Undersecretary Estrada also explained that the Central Visayas region remains the largest in the country in terms of the number of facilities and the number of children provided with alternative child care.
As of December 2023, the number of children placed for adoption was 36; 1,116 foster children served, and 58 children issued Certificates Declaring a Child Legally Available for Adoption (CDCLAA).
The NACC had a superhero-themed float, which is a tribute to adoptive parents and foster parents who are considered heroes of abandoned, neglected, dependent, surrendered, orphaned, abused, and exploited children.
NACC Celebrity Ambassadors Julia Clarete, Wendell Ramos, OPM artist Top Suzara, and Fil-Am actor Thou Reyes joined atop the NACC superhero-themed float.
The NACC is a newly created attached quasi-judicial agency of the DSWD under Republic Act No. 11642 (RA 11642), otherwise known as the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act. All government programs and services about adoption and alternative child care have been streamlined through the NACC to enable an expeditious and affordable legal adoption process and alternative child care. ###
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