Philippines to host global consultation on child adoption

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippines will host a three-day global consultation to discuss issues and concerns affecting adopted children around the world, a senior government official said here today.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Soliman said that the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB), an attached agency of the DSWD, will spearhead the 12th Global Consultation on Child Welfare Services from August 14 to 16 in Manila.

The international event will focus on the theme "Post Adoption Services: The Way Forward." Post adoption services include measures to assist adopted children preserve their cultural links with their country of origin, and assist adoptive parents to recognize the value and importance of such links for the child's future development.

"The multi-country collaborative consultation is envisioned to ensure a most substantial and timely sharing of trends and practices in inter-country adoption," Soliman said.

The meeting will bring together representatives of central authorities of Andorra, Australia, New Zealand and Canada and the partner foreign adoption agencies from the United States, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom, etc. Local participants are social workers from child caring institutions, court social workers and judges from Regional Trial Courts as well as adoptive families.