(a) There is physical neglect when the child is malnourished, ill-clad, and
without proper shelter. A child is unattended when left by himself/herself without
proper provisions and/or without proper supervision.
(b) There is emotional neglect when the child is maltreated, raped, seduced,
exploited, overworked, or made to work under conditions not conducive to good
health; or is made to beg in the streets or public places; or when children are in
moral danger, or exposed to gambling, prostitution, and other vices.
(5) Child Legally Available for Adoption refers to a child in whose favor a certification
was issued by the DSWD that he/she is legally available for adoption after the fact of
abandonment or neglect has been proven through the submission of pertinent
documents, or one who was voluntarily committed by his/her parent(s) or legal
guardian.
(6) Voluntarily Committed Child is one whose parent(s) or legal guardian knowingly and
willingly relinquished parental authority to the DSWD or any duly accredited childplacement or child-caring agency or institution.
(7) Child-caring agency or institution refers to a private non-profit or government agency
duly accredited by the DSWD that provides twenty-four (24) hour residential care
services for abandoned, neglected, or voluntarily committed children.
(8) Child-placing agency or institution refers to a private non-profit institution or
government agency duly accredited by the DWSD that receives and processes
applicants to become foster or adoptive parents and facilitate placement of children
eligible for foster care or adoption.
(9) Petitioner refers to the head or executive director of a licensed or accredited childcaring or child-placing agency or institution managed by the government, local
government unit, non-governmental organization, or provincial, city, or municipal Social
Welfare Development Officer who has actual custody of the minor and who files a
certification to declare such child legally available for adoption, or, if the child is under
the custody of any other individual, the agency or institution does so with the consent of
the child's custodian.
(10) Secretary refers to the Secretary of the DSWD or his duly authorized
representative.
(11) Conspicuous Place shall refer to a place frequented by the public, where by notice
of the petition shall be posted for information of any interested person.
(12) Social Case Study Report (SCSR) shall refer to a written report of the result of an
assessment conducted by a licensed social worker as to the social-cultural economic
condition, psychosocial background, current functioning and facts of abandonment or
neglect of the child. The report shall also state the efforts of social worker to locate the
child's biological parents/relatives.
Section 3. Petition. – The petition shall be in the form of an affidavit, subscribed and sworn to before
any person authorized by law to administer oaths. It shall contain facts necessary to establish the