In observance of the Adoption and Alternative Child Care (AACC) Week, the National Authority for Child Care-Regional Alternative Child Care Office (NACC-RACCO) in Western Visayas has raised awareness on legal adoption and foster care while reinforcing its call against “online baby selling” through social media platforms.
In her message, RACCO Western Visayas officer-in-charge Janice Brasileño raised alarm over the growing number of “online baby selling” incidents, where children are illegally offered for illegal adoption through unauthorized Facebook pages, online groups and private messaging platforms.
“The NACC has been at the forefront of the elimination of online baby selling via Facebook. Tantamount to trafficking in person, child abuse and exploitation and illegal adoption, online baby selling also poses a threat to the life of a child,” Brasileño noted in her message during the recent media forum in line with the activity.
To note, NACC is the lead agency of the Committee against Illegal Adoption of the Department of Justice’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).
Brasileño also noted that, although no cases have been reported in Western Visayas, the NACC through collaboration with various government agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, has recorded nationwide a total 23 Facebook accounts and groups, since February 2024, facilitating adoption.
As of April 2025, the agency added that there are still 13 active Facebook groups facilitating online baby selling.
Meanwhile, a total of nine victims have been rescued from this, while 14 perpetrators have been brought to justice.
“We continue to monitor online through our partners and support groups from our adoptive and foster families who continually report these Facebook pages and groups suspected of illegal adoption,” Brasileño underscored, emphasizing RACCO’s efforts in preventing such illicit activities in the region.
She appealed to the public not to engage in or support these illegal practices and instead seek proper guidance from the NACC and its regional offices for legitimate adoption procedures.
“We encourage our fellow Ilonggos and the public to support and help us report and shutdown the operation of groups facilitating illegal adoption in any form, especially those done online through Facebook and other platforms,” Brasileño stressed.
During the media forum, RACCO also urged the public to consider adoption, foster care and other child care options that uphold the dignity, rights and best interests of the child, especially now that the process is no longer judicial, giving no reason for potential adoptive parents to use the “shortcut” or illegal means.
Anchored on the theme “Hope and Home for Every Child,” the AACC week celebration this year served as a platform for promoting lawful and compassionate means of providing alternative care to Filipino children in need.
Highlighting the celebration, three families shared their heartfelt stories of adoption and foster care through testimonies that brought to life the transformative power of love, inclusion and legal guardianship in shaping the future of vulnerable children.
Under Republic Act No. 11642, or the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act, the second week of June is designated as Adoption and Alternative Child Care Week, with NACC as the lead agency.
The law also streamlines the process for domestic administrative adoption and further strengthens the protection and welfare of children in need of permanent families.
“The fight against online baby selling, online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, and other forms of trafficking, child abuse, and exploitation is a battle for the future of our nation. The NACC is committed to finding safe, steady and nurturing homes for Filipino children may it be through foster care or legal adoption,” Brasileño added. (PIA-6)