Abused, neglected, abandoned and surrendered children will be given alternative child care under a foster care ordinance of the Muntinlupa City government. 

Ordinance No. 2025-333, or the Muntinlupa City Foster Care Ordinance, was signed by Mayor Ruffy Biazon on April 15 after it was enacted by the Muntinlupa City Council. 

“Children, especially those who are abused, neglected, abandoned and surrendered, must be provided with alternative child care to afford them the love, care and utmost protection from all forms of social opportunism and violence against children, thus the need to enact this Ordinance,” the ordinance stated. 

Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon (Photo from Mayor Biazon's Facebook account)

The Muntinlupa City government “recognizes that a child will benefit more from foster care than institutional care. As such, it shall strengthen, develop and expand its foster care program and ensure that its alternative child care program shall provide a wholesome atmosphere to the foster child as a step towards the child's return and reintegration to his biological parents or placement with an adoptive family.” 

Foster care is defined in the ordinance as the “provision of planned temporary substitute parental care to a child by a foster parent.”

The ordinance established the "Aruga at Kupkop ng Pamilya para sa mga Bata sa Muntinlupa Program."

Under the ordinance, the city government will submit to the chairperson of the Local Council for the Protection Of Children (I-CPC) a list of 20 prospective foster parents “who are willing and able to provide foster family care to abused, abandoned, neglected and surrendered children.” 

They will be recommended for Foster Family Care License with the Regional Alternative Child Care Office-National Capital Region based on the Home Study Report prepared by the social workers of the Social Services Department (SSD).

The local law mandates the city government to “exhaust the possibility of placing the child in kinship care before considering placing the child to non-blood related family.”

The following may be placed under foster care: 

- A child who is abandoned, surrendered, neglected, dependent or orphaned;

- A child who is a victim of sexual, physical, or any other form of abuse or exploitation;

- A child with special needs;

- A child whose family members are temporarily or permanently unable or unwilling to provide the child with adequate care;

- A child awaiting adoptive placement and who would have to be prepared for family life;

- A child who needs long-term care and close family ties but who cannot be placed for domestic adoption;

- A child whose adoption has been disrupted;

- A child who is under socially difficult circumstances such as, but not limited to, a street child, a child in armed conflict or a victim of child labor or trafficking;

- A child who committed a minor offense but is released on recognizance, or who is in custody supervision or whose case is dismissed; 

- A  child who is in need of special protection as assessed by a social worker of the Social Services Department (SSD).

A foster parent must meet the following qualifications: 

a. Must be a Muntinlupa City resident for at least five (5) years

b. Must be of legal age;

c. Must be at least sixteen (16) years older than the child unless the foster parent is a relative;

d. Must have a genuine interest, capacity and commitment in parenting and is able to provide a familial atmosphere for the child;

e. Must have a healthy and harmonious relationship with each family member living with him or her;

f. Must be of good moral character;

g. Must be physically and mentally capable and emotionally mature;

h. Must have sufficient resources to be able to provide for the family's needs;

i. Must be willing to further be honed or be trained on knowledge, attitudes and skills in caring for a child; and

j. Must not already have the maximum number of children under his foster care at the time of application or award.

A licensed foster family shall take care of only one infant or a maximum of three older children at any given time except where siblings have to be together with one foster family. In case of a child with special needs, only one child shall be placed with a foster family at a time, the ordinance stated. 

“No applicant shall be disqualified by mere reason of sexual orientation and gender identity of foster parents' religious affiliations, disabilities and indigenous membership,” according to the ordinance. 

It added, “Foster parents shall have the rights, duties and liabilities of persons exercising substitute parental authority, as may be provided under the Family Code over the children under their foster care. Foster parents shall only have the rights of a person with special parental authority to discipline the foster children as defined under Section 233 of the Family Code, insofar as it prohibits the infliction of corporal punishment upon the child.”