Filipino Child Adoption

The laws have since changed many times. As in the case in the United States, there are those who question whether or not an American, Scandinavian, or Australian couple can fully meet the cultural needs of a Filipino child. There is the question of “imperialism,” and an observation that some foreign parents have a feeling of “privilege” and that it times have been given “immediate attention or preference over their Filipino counterparts” (Balanon, p. 245). Foreign couples sometimes try to get requirements lifted and may have politicians intervene on their behalf. They forget “that the Philippines is an independent nation and no longer a colony of the United States” (Balanon, p. 245). However, according to the U.S. State Department, which issues immigrant visas to orphans coming to the United States, from 1995 to 2005 the number of adoptions of Filipino children to

The DSWD has local offices spread throughout the country, and the Kaisahang Buhay Foundation is a licensed child-placement agency.

When adoption professionals in the Philippines cannot find a family to meet a child’s needs, only then does the country turn to inter-country adoption to keep a child from growing up in an institution. More male children than female children are available because of the preference of Filipino families for girls. Approximately 75 percent of the children available in this category go to American families, including relative adoptions with Filipino Americans. Most of the remaining children go to Norway, France, Germany, and the