Norwegian report questions how Costa Rica declared children sent abroad for adoption as abandoned

A Norwegian commission is questioning the procedures that led to 101 Costa Rican children being declared abandoned and sent abroad for adoption. What were the findings of this investigation?

A commission created by the Norwegian government to investigate possible irregularities in international adoptions questioned the way in which dozens of minors were declared abandoned in our country before being sent abroad for adoption.

The findings are part of an independent investigation into international adoptions to Norway from 1960 to 2024, a period in which 20,464 adoptions of children from 36 countries were carried out in that country. 

The study dedicated an entire chapter to Costa Rica, as between 1975 and 1992, Norwegian families adopted 101 children of Costa Rican origin. The adoptions were carried out through the agency Adopsjonsforum and in coordination with the National Children's Welfare Board (PANI).

The investigation determined that most of the children sent to Norway were older children (i.e., no babies), sibling groups, or children with special needs. Unlike other documented cases in Latin America, the commission found no evidence of illegal payments, child trafficking, or undue financial gains directly linked to adoptions managed by PANI and the Norwegian agency during that period.

However, the report stated that Norwegian authorities never adequately examined the process by which children were declared abandoned in Costa Rica and became available for adoption abroad. 

According to the report, during those years PANI could administratively declare a minor to be in a state of abandonment . Once this declaration was issued, the institution assumed representation of the child in the adoption process and could grant the consent required for the adoption to proceed , without the law requiring authorization from the biological parents.

The investigation suggested that many of the children declared abandoned came from poor families, households headed by single mothers, or families lacking their own housing and sufficient economic resources . The report itself cited documents and experts from that period who linked cases of abandonment to poverty, low parental education levels, and difficulties in meeting the children's basic needs.

The commission also interviewed a Costa Rican jurist specializing in family law and human rights, who maintained that during the 1970s and 1980s, there was a perception within state institutions that adoption was a solution to poverty and the social problems faced by some families . According to the specialist, the National Children's Welfare Board (PANI) had broad powers to decide on these cases at the time, and there was prejudice against low-income families and single mothers.

The researchers also collected testimonies from adopted people and biological mothers who stated that their families never voluntarily abandoned the children and that they tried to recover them or maintain contact with them.

Under Costa Rican law at the time, parental consent was not required when a child had been officially declared abandoned . The procedure was to include investigations into the child's family situation, attempts to support the family, searching for relatives who could take care of the child, and exploring alternatives within Costa Rica before considering international adoption.

However, the commission noted that Norwegian authorities never thoroughly investigated how these assessments were conducted or whether sufficient safeguards existed to prevent undue separations from biological families . The investigators criticized Norway for authorizing adoptions without a detailed examination of the legal basis and practical application of these procedures.

A review of 33 files, involving 101 children, revealed that 29 of the adopted children had previously been declared abandoned through administrative procedures. None of the files examined included the biological parents as part of the process, and most contained limited information about the children's birth families.

The commission also analyzed specific cases that raise doubts about the rigor of the procedures . In one of the reviewed files, the recommendation to declare several minors abandoned was issued just six days after PANI opened the case. Although consultations were held with family members and people close to the children, the investigators believe that the assessments regarding their suitability for custody did not appear particularly thorough.

The report also included testimonies from adopted individuals who later located their biological families in Costa Rica. Some of these accounts raise questions about the procedures followed before the individuals were sent abroad . The report even mentions the case of a person adopted by a Norwegian family in the late 1980s, who indicated how PANI officials themselves acknowledged in a 2023 meeting that the pre-adoption process appeared to have been inadequate and that not enough was done to ensure the individual remained in Costa Rica .

Interferencia had published the case of Sandra Vanessa Borhaug , a Costa Rican woman sent to Norway for adoption along with her siblings in 1986. Decades later, Sandra managed to reunite with her biological mother and began an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her departure from Costa Rica.

In 2026, Norwegian authorities authorized Sandra to be legally adopted as an adult by her biological mother , after the country's legislation did not allow the annulment of the international adoption.

Sandra Vanessa Borhaug with her biological mother after the reunion process. (Photo for Interferencia)

Sandra pointed out that she uses her case to question structural flaws in the international adoption system , especially when there are incomplete documents, a lack of real consent from biological families, or insufficient controls.

She also stated that her intention is for her story to be known beyond Norway, with the expectation that other people in similar situations may feel supported and share their testimony.

The intermediary

The investigation also examined the role played by the Adopsjonsforum representative in Costa Rica . She was a Norwegian woman residing in the country , now deceased, who for years acted as the main liaison between the Norwegian organization and PANI (the National Children's Welfare Board). Interferencia had previously reported that this liaison was Turid Helleseter de Delgado . Her duties included translating documents, coordinating procedures, managing files, assisting Norwegian families during adoption trips, and maintaining constant contact with Costa Rican authorities.

The investigation highlighted that the intermediary maintained a close relationship with the authorities in charge of adoptions in our country . In 1982, Helleseter de Delgado was part of a "support committee" that included high-ranking officials from PANI (National Children's Welfare Board), among them the president of the institution's board of directors, the executive director, the head of the adoption department, coordinators of children's homes, and representatives of international adoption organizations. The objective of this group was to find families for children considered difficult to place.

The investigators also noted that the intermediary received financial compensation for her work . Although Adopsjonsforum initially informed the Norwegian authorities that the representative did not receive a salary, subsequent documents, analyzed by the Norwegian committee, show that she was reimbursed for adoption-related expenses and that, towards the end of the 1980s, she received additional remuneration linked to the number of adoptions finalized annually . 

The report indicated that she also earned income from translating adoption documents and from hosting some Norwegian families during their trips to pick up the children. According to investigators, although Helleseter de Delgado received compensation for her work, it was not considered disproportionate or sufficient to conclude that there was illegal profiteering within the adoption system to Norway.

The commission also noted that the representative operated with a high degree of autonomy and that oversight from Norway was limited . In several documents reviewed by investigators, the intermediary herself stated that she was “pressuring” PANI officials to obtain child placements for Norwegian families awaiting adoption. In a 1992 communication included in the investigation, Helleseter de Delgado reported that she had met with PANI authorities to “exert even more pressure” to secure more children for adoption.

The commission was unable to determine that these actions constituted irregularities or that the intermediary participated in illegal activities. However, the investigators suggested that these events demonstrate the strong dependence on a single individual to manage a significant portion of the adoption processes between Costa Rica and Norway , as well as the limited oversight exercised by both the Adopsjonsforum agency and the Norwegian authorities over the process.

The investigation also questioned the handling of adoption documentation, finding cases in which official documents sent by our country were returned to adoptive families without the Norwegian authorities retaining complete copies of the files. According to the commission, this situation makes it difficult for many adopted people to reconstruct their family history and learn about the circumstances surrounding their adoption.

The commission found that the authorities of both countries failed to ensure sufficient oversight of the procedures that led to dozens of children being declared abandoned and sent abroad.

For the researchers, the main weakness of the system was not in the final stage of the adoptions, but in the prior decisions that determined that these children could not remain with their families or within Costa Rica . This means that several decades later, many of these decisions continue to raise questions for the adopted individuals and their birth families.