SENATOR Pia Cayetano asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development to ensure that adoption process, especially of minors, will proceed despite the pandemic.

Cayetano noted that the number of children up for adoption remains the same.

The senator stressed that placing children in homes is a vital service that should not be restricted by Covid19.

“It breaks my heart to think of all these children who are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11,15,18, and they never had a home. They become adults in these residential homes and they never had a mother and a father,” Cayetano said.

She also asked DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista to prioritize the finding of homes the same way as making sure that assistance reach the people.

The senator made the appeal to Bautista during the deliberation of the proposed 2022 DSWD budget.

Bautista committed to prioritize the adoption program of DSWD and to submit an assessment for the senator’s perusal.