The National Children’s Trust (PANI) also supports families in Costa Rica to provide a protective environment and ensure that their children grow up safe, loved, and happy.But who is responsible for caring for minors in this country?
Specialists agree that the family is primarily responsible; however, when families fail to comply, the responsibility falls to the State and all its institutions, a task that should be led by the National Children’s Trust.
Milena Grillo, co-founder and Director of Strategy and Innovation at PANIAMOR, points out that “…Of course, the family. Deeply rooted in the rights of children and adolescents, the family comes first. But the Convention also tells us that if the family cannot, does not know how, or does not want to, it is the responsibility of the State, with all its institutions, first and foremost, and of society.”
Carlos Jiménez, director of the National Children’s Hospital, said, “The family is responsible for providing early stimulation and providing food and substantial shelter for minors. This way, the two key processes of pediatrics, growth and neurodevelopment, can be adequately carried out at different stages.”
“The primary responsibility falls to the family. If families, schools, and communities functioned well, children would have their rights protected and their comprehensive development guaranteed,” added Ana Teresa León, former executive president, professor, and researcher in early childhood.
How can we support families?
While the vast majority of families in Costa Rica effectively assume their role of ensuring the well-being of their children, others require accompaniment and support to fulfill this role. For them, PANI develops preventive and educational programs.
Who cares for my children while I work? This is one of the biggest concerns for mothers and fathers. There are 90 Child Development and Comprehensive Care Centers, where 7,323 children develop their autonomy and receive recreational, cultural and artistic, educational, health, and emotional services, among others.
Katherine Soto and her children, Thiago and María Fernanda, see the Sueños de Colores Children’s Center as a safe place where they can learn, share, play, and have fun while she works.
How can we be a good parent? To this end, PANI implements Parenting Academies, attended by 4,799 responsible adults each year, who learn about parenting and positive discipline, self-control, respectful relationships, secure attachment, emotions, and other key topics.
Likewise, in the Early Intervention Centers, 947 schoolchildren annually receive preventive group care to identify and address risk factors. They also develop life skills, values, rights, and responsibilities, while having fun in a safe and enjoyable environment.
Meanwhile, in remote, vulnerable communities with limited access to services, PANI has Mobile Units that provide socio-educational services to 11,956 children and adolescents each year. There, they learn about communication, assertiveness, emotional management, creativity, and risk prevention.
How do I protect my children from risks? 1,460 children and adolescents are part of the PANI Participatory Councils, and 40 make up the National Adolescent Network. These are spaces where they develop life skills, self-care, identity, leadership, and, above all, belonging. They also exercise their right to participate and are strengthened to confront and prevent risks.
Valeria Cubero of the Puntarenas Participatory Council comments that, for her, PANI is family, protection, love, and teamwork.And the community’s responsibility? In Costa Rica, there are 85 Local Protection Subsystems and Child and Adolescent Protection Boards, which develop educational projects involving 1,358 minors.
Who can advise me on how to properly care for my children? The Guidance and Information Center (COI) is a technological platform staffed by professionals who receive inquiries and complaints through the following lines: 1147, 800-2262626, WhatsApp, 8989-1147, the website, and all social media. The COI works in conjunction with the national 9.1.1 emergency system and receives nearly 100,000 incidents per year regarding human rights violations.
Families struggling to care for their children
Despite all the preventive, educational, and support work carried out with families, some do not know how to fulfill their protective role, lack the capacity, and a few do not want to care for their children, and this is where the State intervenes.
During 2024, the PANI received 94,240 reports of alleged abuse against 125,709 children and adolescents. These are reports of physical abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, among other violations of their rights. Some of these situations are so serious that they put their lives at risk.A total of 18,471 were immediately treated in emergency services that operate 24 hours a day, every day of the week, throughout the country.
The PANI has 10 Regional Directorates and 58 Local Offices to intervene with families at risk. There, they are provided with psychosocial and legal support to confirm or rule out the reported situation, identify protective and risk factors, work with family and community support networks, and, when appropriate, apply the Special Protection Process.
This process empowers PANI to dictate measures ranging from family guidance, support, and follow-up, medical treatment orders, and inclusion in specialized programs such as addiction treatment (all of which do not require temporary separation of the minor from their family environment), to provisional care and temporary shelter measures, which do involve separation from the family group while the corresponding measures are carried out, including possible legal proceedings.
When the extreme measure of separation is necessary, they are primarily located and protected with family or community resources. By 2024, 88% of children and adolescents were placed in subsidized or unsubsidized foster care, 9.5% in residential organizations, and only 2.5% in shelters.
For specialized care, PANI coordinates with 57 organizations that work with people with disabilities, chronic and/or terminal illnesses, palliative care, addiction, conflicts with the law, disruptive behavior, sexual abuse, and independent living projects. For adolescent mothers, there is also a program that includes scholarships, social training workshops, and a toll-free psychological support line.
Carlos Jiménez, director of the National Children’s Hospital, refers to the specialized care required by children and adolescents with chronic and terminal illnesses under PANI’s care.
The work of the professional team ensures that most of these children and adolescents return to their families; however, there is a group who remain under institutional protection. We try, whenever possible, to place them with an adoptive family once they have been found eligible for adoption and a final declaration of abandonment. In 2024, 91 minors were placed for adoption, out of the 107 who met both conditions.
To carry out all this work with families and minors, PANI has a human resource of 1,630 collaborators, a budget of one hundred billion colones, and a budget execution of 93% for 2024. However, these resources are limited to fulfill the mandate, social demand, and violence.
Responding to the Reality of Children, Adolescents, and Families
To date, Costa Rica has a National Policy for Children and Adolescents 2024-2032, built with the participation of children and adolescents. It establishes family and community life, health, education, culture, play, sports, recreation, physical activity, the environment, special protection, and democratic institutions as strategic pillars guiding the actions of institutions.
However, Costa Rican society must continue preparing to respond to children, adolescents, and families in the face of the digital world, technology, artificial intelligence, mental health, violence, and a birth rate that continues to decline.
For PANI Executive President Kennly Garza, “Never before has Costa Rican society needed an institution like PANI as much as it does in these times; times of great complexity, where being a father, mother, caregiver, guardian, and even a minor is confronted with realities such as technology, globalization, social and generational gaps, healthcare, education, and new interrelational codes that add complexity to the family. At this moment, the family, which continues to be called upon for protection, requires the accompaniment and support of PANI, with the cooperation of all institutions.”
Ninety-five years ago, Costa Rica entrusted PANI with caring for children and adolescents and supporting their families, in collaboration with all institutions. Today, that mandate remains valid, because each and every one of them is society’s most valuable resource and must be an absolute priority for Costa Rica.
