On their fifth year of marriage, Michael Dennis and Cecil Sucgang of Paranaque City were faced by their inability to conceive a child.

Dennis was diagnosed with “azoospermia”, a medical condition of a man not having any measurable level of sperm.

The diagnosis came as quite a shock to everyone, especially to Dennis, who expected to have a perfect family with children.

The couple learned to overcome the pain by supporting each other, as well as leaning on the support of their respective families and relatives.

Dennis admitted that at first he has negative feelings about adoption.

“I never thought that I will undergo the adoption process. I feel ashamed not having a child,” he confessed before officials and employees of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) during the flag raising ceremony at the Central Office on Monday.

Thinking and feeling that there was something lacking in their married life, they gradually accepted the reality and considered adoption to be the logical choice for them.

In September 2009, the couple was assessed by the social worker as capable of adopting a child. They were matched to their preferred female child whom they named Cyrille.

Dennis was working in Singapore when he heard the  good news that they were finally matched with a child. He cried when he first saw the picture of baby Cyrille sent by his wife.

“That was the most beautiful picture I saw,” Dennis narrated.

Excited to be with Cyrille,  Dennis did not finish his work contract in Singapore and flew home to the Philippines.

“When I first met my five-month old child at the airport, I was very happy, and it entirely changed my negative feelings about adoption,” Dennis continued.

On June 22, 2011, the court issued the Certificate of Finality of their adoption.

Today, the couple is very active in the adoption support group in the National Capital Region.  They are often invited to give inspirational talks to prospective adoptive parents.

Cyrille is now in school, a very pretty and smart child.

The couple decided it is already the right time for them to have another child, this time a baby boy who needs a caring and loving family. They are now preparing for their second adoption.

“In our own little ways, we can bring positive change to other people’s lives, especially to abandoned children who need the love and care of a family,” Dennis enthused

Legal Adoption

Adoption is a socio-legal process of providing a permanent family to a child whose parents have voluntarily or involuntarily relinquished parental authority over the child.

Adoption is for children who cannot be reared by their biological parents and who need and can benefit from new and permanent family ties.

It provides the same mutual rights and obligations that exist between children and their biological parents. It comprises of social work and other professional services that are required in the placement of children in adoptive families.

In 2010, a year after Republic  Act 9523  otherwise known as “An Act Requiring Certification of the DSWD to Declare a Child Legally Available for Adoption as a Prerequisite for Adoption Proceedings” was enacted, DSWD’s Adoption Resource and Referral Office (ARRO) received numerous applications from prospective adoptive parents.

From 2010 to the first semester of 2014, DSWD facilitated the processing of domestic adoption cases leading to the permanent placement of 414 children  for adoption. ###