According to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) 2015, 452 cases of adoption have been presented to the Municipal People's Courts throughout the country, in the last 10 years.
In 1984, Children's Homes and Mixed Child Care Centers were created, governed by Decree Law No. 76 of the State Council, but "even though in these centers infants are offered satisfactory care they need a family where they can feel part of it, "says Sara Soto Valdés, former director of the Carlo Selli center, one of the homes that welcomes these children in the province of Artemisa.
Although our social system guarantees them the necessary living conditions, it is essential for their proper formation to grow to feel the love and support of a family.
In order to ensure the protection of the child, the adoption process is usually long and rigorous. Article 100 of the current Cuban Family Code requires that the interested parties must be 25 years of age (...), be fully empowered with their civil and political rights (...) and be able to meet the economic needs of the adopted child (...) " .
Article 103 of the Code testifies that children under 16 years of age who are in any of these situations are protected: their parents are not known, they have been intentionally abandoned and their parental rights have been extinguished due to the death of their parents or both have been deprived of it.
Carmen Elena Rosales Cambras, Law graduate, states that the process requires a complex legal procedure, generally named "voluntary jurisdiction". If the children are not in these institutions, their parents must give their approval. Then, the Office of the Public Prosecutor verifies that the infant has the characteristics to be adopted and the opinion can only be issued after the corresponding investigations.
Carmen Elena Rosales Cambras, Law graduate, states that the process requires a complex legal procedure, generally named "voluntary jurisdiction". If the children are not in these institutions, their parents must give their approval. Then, the Prosecutor's Office checks that the infant has the characteristics to be adopted and the opinion can only be issued after the corresponding investigations.
The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the Union of Jurists of Cuba, the Department of Special Education of the Ministry of Education (MINED) and the Prosecutor's Office are the bodies in charge of everything related to the care of these children.
Young people who do not have the opportunity to be adopted live in these homes until they are adults. Then the State gives them a home and a workplace.