PRESIDENT Arroyo has signed into law Republic Act 9523 that simplifies and shortens the process of adopting a child but imposes stiffer penalties against illegal adoption.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said the new law shortens the period before a child may be considered abandoned from six to three months.

?The nature of the child adoption proceedings has also been changed from judicial to administrative. In the administrative procedure, declaring a child legally free for adoption will take 24 days from the date of filing of petition to the DSWD assuming that all the requirements have been complied with,? Cabral said.

She said that court proceedings for child adoption usually takes more than a year.

?We want to hasten the process of making a child available for adoption. Fast movement of children would mean the ability to take in more children [who] at risk of being abandoned or neglected,? Cabral said. ?We must lessen the negative effect of prolonged stay of the child in a center and lessen the lost time of a child to be in a nurturing environment.?

While simplifying the process, Cabral said the law also gives government more teeth in running after persons or institutions that engage in illegal adoption.

?Any person, institution or agency that shall cause the adoption of a child or any form of alternative home placement without the DSWD certification that the child is legally available for adoption will pay a penalty of P100,000 to P200,000,? she said. Joyce Pangco Pa?ares