Fátima enjoys playing, painting, wearing dresses, and doing her hair; she also loves ice cream. José Ignacio enjoys trips to the beach, flying, eating good food, and reading. They, along with their mother, Susana, and father, Pablo, have been part of the Jiménez Ureña family for three years.
Susana Ureña says they always had the idea of becoming parents: “One day, Pablo brought up the subject. I told him I had fears and doubts; Pablo told me that he did too, but that we should try.”
Pablo Jiménez shares: “It was a piece of furniture that caused the problem. This was a room for an unborn child, and it was getting filled with a lot of stuff, I told Susana. This made us realize our desire to become adoptive parents,” Pablo Jiménez shared.
Fátima and José Ignacio are among the more than one hundred children and adolescents who, each year, achieve administrative adoptability and obtain judicial authorization for a potentially adoptive placement at risk or a final court ruling terminating parental responsibility for adoption.
Understanding their history, and desire for a new relationship
Silvia Rojas, a psychologist in the Adoption Department of the National Children’s Trust, explains that adoptability means ensuring that the child or adolescent is prepared at every level, that they understand their history, and desire a new relationship.
Adoption, ultimately, is a judicial process that requires that the parents of the children and adolescents have had their parental responsibility for adoption terminated by a final court ruling. This extreme measure occurs when psychosocial and legal intervention with the family has been exhausted and, despite the efforts made and support implemented, the environment continues to be high risk and vulnerable for the minor.”
Jorge Urbina, Coordinator of the PANI Adoption Department, clarifies that, once children and adolescents have the legal and psychosocial status and there are families with compatible suitability for possible adoptive protection, the Adoption Department takes one month and 16 days to arrange for the minor to live with the potential adoptive family. In the case of Susana and Pablo, the wait time for Fátima and José Ignacio was seven months.
Growing up in a protective environment
The substantive work of PANI is to work with the family so that children and adolescents can grow up in a protective environment that guarantees their comprehensive development. For example, in 2024, 94,240 complaints of alleged rights violations against 125,709 children and adolescents were received.
Thanks to the psychosocial and legal work of the local offices, the vast majority of these children and adolescents returned to their families when the reported situation changed; and only 107 arrived at the Adoption Department with the technical and legal conditions authorizing their placement with a potential adoptive family.
Of this group, 91 were placed with 80 families for adoption purposes. The other 16 have characteristics, conditions, and care requirements that are incompatible with the characteristics and suitability of the families and the adoption request (children over 7 years of age, sibling groups, disabilities, chronic illnesses, family psychiatric history, among others). For example, a high percentage of eligible families in the national Registry of Eligible Families state that their responsibilities are limited to girls under 6 years of age.
The story of the Jiménez Ureña family teaches us that the real motivation for adoption must be love and the desire to be parents; that the waiting period must reflect the best interests of the minors; and that each year, only about 100 children are potentially placed for adoption within the institutional system.
Furthermore, there is a group of 16 children and adolescents whose characteristics do not match the adoption needs. Hence the importance of informing and raising awareness about the reality of adoption in Costa Rica and encouraging Costa Ricans to openly protect children and adolescents who have the right to grow and develop within a family.
Pablo and Susana explain that motherhood and fatherhood are not a simple process, but with support and love, they can be overcome, and they share with us the most meaningful moments they have experienced as a family.
In the second installment of the report “The Truth About Adoption in Costa Rica,” we will meet the family of Abraham, David, and Mauricio.
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