Tuesday, January 10, 2006
MANILA TIMES
Monday, January 09, 2006
OPINION
DOUBLETAKE
By Eric F. Mallonga
Bridges of humanity
As a board member of the Intercountry Adoption Board tasked to approve matches between adoptable Filipino children with suitable prospective adoptive parents from foreign jurisdictions, I have seen many of these children coming back to the Philippines for a homeland tour in search of their birth origins. These children adopted by foreign parents are uniquely situated between, and belonging to, two different cultures and countries. These children are creating bridges of understanding, international harmony and solidarity. The child with two families and two countries from different continents are bridges that bond humankind closer together. These bridges built on the goodwill and solidarity of these children may very well be the solution to our own search for global peace that has eluded us throughout human history?
Historical tradition, particularly in the Western hemisphere, regarded adoption as a form of compensation for both childless couples and biological parents unable to meet their children's basic needs. Dating back from the Roman Empire, adoption was viewed from the prospective parents' viewpoint, that is, to provide parents with a child, rather than from the child's perspective. In other words, adoption was for the family's self-centered purposes -- that of providing family continuity rather than for the altruistic purpose of nurturing and loving the child without conditions. [ED: In the US, too, children were sent off on orphan trains to provide needed hands for farmers.]
Islamic culture provided an approach superior to the traditions of the Roman Empire in its practice of the kafalah. [ED: Traditional Hawaiian cuture and other island nations also traditionally practiced more child-ventered and less possessive form of adoption.]
The Qu'ran states: " . . . nor hath He made those whom ye claim [to be your sons] your sons. This is but a saying of your mouths. But God sayeth the truth and He showeth the way. Proclaim their real parentage. That will be more equitable in the sight of God. And if ye know not their fathers then [they are] your brethren in the faith and your clients." In other words, kafalah provides substitute care for children who cannot be cared for by their biological parents, without altering the kinship system or biological parentage. The concept of kafalah is a symbol of human solidarity; of unselfish, voluntary efforts and sacrifice of persons endowed with financial and moral capabilities to assist those among their brethren who are less fortunate, and guide them in their parenting efforts. Many Islamic countries today, like Brunei, Tunisia and Somalia have built upon this principle in improving their treatment of children, recognizing basic concepts of intercountry adoption without severing biological ties and yet providing every possible means to uplift these children from their abandonment, neglect or abusive environment.
Today, intercountry adoption is a vastly improved system under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. These conventions reflect present-day progress in the treatment of, and attitude toward, children. Parental rights are distinct from the rights of a child. Today, children are possessors of human rights. It is their best interests that must be satisfied beyond the wishes of a parent. Adoptive parents should never aspire to demand any payback from the child. What the child is and what the child becomes is its own payback. Adoption with the most sincere intentions of nurturance with unconditional love should be further enhanced and encouraged.
Despite international legal developments, Philippine adoption practice remains as ancient as the Roman Empire. "Birth simulation" remains the norm, although it is a criminal offense. Yet severance of birth origins in simulation of birth certificates has never been in a child's best interests. There are many reasons -- medical, social and psychological -- that demand preservation of the integrity of birth documents. [ED: In ther US this is called "amending" a birth certificate.] Adopted children with physiological disorders, such as hemophilia, liver cancer, leukemia and the like, need organ donors with biological compatibility, usually someone from their consanguinal bloodline. Social and cultural traditions also prohibit incestuous marriages, which may possibly occur should birth records not be made available to adopted children. Also, there is "genealogical bewilderment" that adopted children go through when they grow up in a diverse family environment with different ethnic or cultural origins. The child's psychological search for his beginnings will have to be satisfied.
The reality is that adoption in the Philippines is generally an arduous, time-consuming, tedious and often expensive judicial process. Because it is judicial, it has often also become litigious and adversarial, with meddlesome solicitors and prosecutors vehemently acting out the role of "oppositors," disregarding favorable findings by social workers, who have undertaken considerable effort in their preparation of social case studies. Yet most often, there are no genuine contentious issues in adoption petitions. And because of the lengthy, inconvenient and traumatizing adversarial judicial process, suitable families are discouraged from resorting to legal processes in the adoption of children. Resorting to birth simulations continue to have the allure of convenience in the acquisition of a child.
The challenge for Congress lies in enacting an adoption procedure as convenient as the simulation of a child's birth certificate yet guaranteeing suitability of adoptive parents and the legal availability of the abandoned, orphaned, or abused child. The adoption laws should be our priority bridge projects because our children comprise the real bridges of humanity.
Monday, January 09, 2006
OPINION
DOUBLETAKE
By Eric F. Mallonga
Bridges of humanity
As a board member of the Intercountry Adoption Board tasked to approve matches between adoptable Filipino children with suitable prospective adoptive parents from foreign jurisdictions, I have seen many of these children coming back to the Philippines for a homeland tour in search of their birth origins. These children adopted by foreign parents are uniquely situated between, and belonging to, two different cultures and countries. These children are creating bridges of understanding, international harmony and solidarity. The child with two families and two countries from different continents are bridges that bond humankind closer together. These bridges built on the goodwill and solidarity of these children may very well be the solution to our own search for global peace that has eluded us throughout human history?
Historical tradition, particularly in the Western hemisphere, regarded adoption as a form of compensation for both childless couples and biological parents unable to meet their children's basic needs. Dating back from the Roman Empire, adoption was viewed from the prospective parents' viewpoint, that is, to provide parents with a child, rather than from the child's perspective. In other words, adoption was for the family's self-centered purposes -- that of providing family continuity rather than for the altruistic purpose of nurturing and loving the child without conditions. [ED: In the US, too, children were sent off on orphan trains to provide needed hands for farmers.]
Islamic culture provided an approach superior to the traditions of the Roman Empire in its practice of the kafalah. [ED: Traditional Hawaiian cuture and other island nations also traditionally practiced more child-ventered and less possessive form of adoption.]
The Qu'ran states: " . . . nor hath He made those whom ye claim [to be your sons] your sons. This is but a saying of your mouths. But God sayeth the truth and He showeth the way. Proclaim their real parentage. That will be more equitable in the sight of God. And if ye know not their fathers then [they are] your brethren in the faith and your clients." In other words, kafalah provides substitute care for children who cannot be cared for by their biological parents, without altering the kinship system or biological parentage. The concept of kafalah is a symbol of human solidarity; of unselfish, voluntary efforts and sacrifice of persons endowed with financial and moral capabilities to assist those among their brethren who are less fortunate, and guide them in their parenting efforts. Many Islamic countries today, like Brunei, Tunisia and Somalia have built upon this principle in improving their treatment of children, recognizing basic concepts of intercountry adoption without severing biological ties and yet providing every possible means to uplift these children from their abandonment, neglect or abusive environment.
Today, intercountry adoption is a vastly improved system under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. These conventions reflect present-day progress in the treatment of, and attitude toward, children. Parental rights are distinct from the rights of a child. Today, children are possessors of human rights. It is their best interests that must be satisfied beyond the wishes of a parent. Adoptive parents should never aspire to demand any payback from the child. What the child is and what the child becomes is its own payback. Adoption with the most sincere intentions of nurturance with unconditional love should be further enhanced and encouraged.
Despite international legal developments, Philippine adoption practice remains as ancient as the Roman Empire. "Birth simulation" remains the norm, although it is a criminal offense. Yet severance of birth origins in simulation of birth certificates has never been in a child's best interests. There are many reasons -- medical, social and psychological -- that demand preservation of the integrity of birth documents. [ED: In ther US this is called "amending" a birth certificate.] Adopted children with physiological disorders, such as hemophilia, liver cancer, leukemia and the like, need organ donors with biological compatibility, usually someone from their consanguinal bloodline. Social and cultural traditions also prohibit incestuous marriages, which may possibly occur should birth records not be made available to adopted children. Also, there is "genealogical bewilderment" that adopted children go through when they grow up in a diverse family environment with different ethnic or cultural origins. The child's psychological search for his beginnings will have to be satisfied.
The reality is that adoption in the Philippines is generally an arduous, time-consuming, tedious and often expensive judicial process. Because it is judicial, it has often also become litigious and adversarial, with meddlesome solicitors and prosecutors vehemently acting out the role of "oppositors," disregarding favorable findings by social workers, who have undertaken considerable effort in their preparation of social case studies. Yet most often, there are no genuine contentious issues in adoption petitions. And because of the lengthy, inconvenient and traumatizing adversarial judicial process, suitable families are discouraged from resorting to legal processes in the adoption of children. Resorting to birth simulations continue to have the allure of convenience in the acquisition of a child.
The challenge for Congress lies in enacting an adoption procedure as convenient as the simulation of a child's birth certificate yet guaranteeing suitability of adoptive parents and the legal availability of the abandoned, orphaned, or abused child. The adoption laws should be our priority bridge projects because our children comprise the real bridges of humanity.
# posted by Senior Mom @ 1:29 PM 
