Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian said Sunday that the agency is prioritizing the deinstitutionalization of abandoned, neglected, and orphaned children in its care facilities to help them find permanent, loving homes.

“The goal is to deinstitutionalize children from our facilities,” Gatchalian said. He explained that the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) is promoting foster care, and the DSWD is accrediting foster parents to temporarily care for the children. Adoption is the second key avenue.

Gatchalian added that the DSWD is collaborating with the NACC, its attached agency, to strengthen and improve the government’s alternative child care programs.

They aim to encourage more Filipinos to become foster parents, providing children with a caring and protected family environment.

“We should not rush it, but we should strengthen the foster care program...we want to be the leader in that,” Gatchalian said.

According to the DSWD chief, the agency places the best interests of the child as its top priority.