On Tuesday, the Social Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly affirmed a bill to simplify the adoption of people over 18 years old.
This initiative seeks to amend article 106 of the Family Code so that the age gap between the adopted person and the adopter is reduced to 10 years, as long as the adopter is of legal age.
Costa Rica allows the adoption of adults, but the requirement of age difference between the two parts is 15 years.
In everyday life, many people are economically and emotionally responsible for their spouse’s older children, but they cannot formally adopt them because the law requires 15 years of difference between adopter and adoptee. What we want is to lower that requirement to just 10 years so that more families can normalize their legal, affective and patrimonial situation,”
said Ms. Emilia Molina, from the Citizen Action Party (PAC) and proponent of the project.
The text is supported by the Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the Ombudsman and the National Institute of Women (INAMU).
The amendment would only apply to adults and will now pass to the legislative plenary for discussion and voting.