The National Authority for Child Care (NACC) decried the film “Dear Satan” for its “misleading and unlawful” portrayal of adoption and foster care as alternative forms of child care.

In a statement on Friday, Sept. 6, NACC Undersecretary Janella Ejercito Estrada expressed disappointment with the new film as it “runs counter to the NACC’s mandate in informing and educating the public on the legal mechanisms of adoption and alternative child care and in creating a positive environment for adoption through the mass media.”

The NACC is the Philippines' central authority on administrative adoption and alternative child care, established by Republic Act No. 11642, also known as the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act.

“It is unfortunate that while Dear Satan implores artistic freedom, the film runs counter to the NACC mandate and diminishes the successes and milestones painstakingly earned by the government, child welfare professionals, and other NACC stakeholders in ensuring that the general public is aware and an active participant to the legal process of adoption,” Estrada said.

“Along with the streamlining of adoption and alternative child care programs and services, it is our duty to raise public awareness on the legal process of administrative adoption and alternative child care and debunk connotations and illegal practices that pose threat against the safety of a child in need of a steady and a happy family,” she added.

The NACC official noted that Dear Satan validates the longstanding illegal practices of adoption, such as selecting a child and taking them home without proper procedures.

However, she said the film incorrectly suggests that training, licensing, and preparation for Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) and foster parents are unnecessary.

“The best interest of a child is always put into paramount consideration in deciding upon the most suitable method of alternative child care such as domestic adoption, inter-country adoption, foster care, kinship care, family-like care, or residential care,” Estrada said.

She explained that the entrustment or placement of a child is assessed and determined through a matching process conducted by an independent, multi-disciplinary panel of experts known as the Regional and Inter-Regional Matching Committees.

The matching committees are composed of medical doctors, child psychologists, lawyers, and representatives from volunteer organizations dedicated to child welfare.

Estrada added that a PAP or foster parent must undergo appropriate training, counseling, evaluation, and preparation before being granted a license to be entrusted with or placed with a child.

“It is our duty to ensure that a PAP or foster parent is willing and capable of nurturing a child’s holistic development and that the personal decision to adopt or provide foster care to a child is not merely based on whims and caprices,” she said.

“On foster care alone, Dear Satan’s screenplay is a sheer disregard of due diligence and complete staff work in depicting a credible story, more so the noble lifelong work of our social workers and partner Child Caring and Child-Placing Agencies. They do not conduct themselves as Dear Satan depicts them. It is unconscionable if not an insult,” she added.