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“Older children have the same right as any child to be adopted and to grow up in a family that contains them and accompanies them, that allows them to see that they can be whatever they want to be,” says Argentine Víctor Sajoza, 54, a father. of six adopted children over six years old.
He expresses this emphatically because in Argentina children who cross the seven-year-old barrier have less chance of being adopted because applicants usually look for babies or very young children.
The same happens with groups of siblings who do not want to or with those who have a disability.
And although some provinces have initiated reforms that are accelerating adoption processes through the implementation of protocols regarding children and adolescents, multiple or adolescent adoptions remain few in the country.
Víctor and her husband, Jorge Elías, 53, are the exception that proves the rule: two years ago they adopted half a dozen siblings between the ages of seven and 12 from the northern province of Salta who were looking for a family that would love them all. together.
Jorge Elías with his husband, Víctor Sajoza.RAMIRO PEREYRA
“I think if we had thought about ourselves we would never have done it.
We think more about them.
The biggest fear was of not functioning as a family, their rejection or some dark cloud that would generate a spark between us and we would say 'this is it.'
Luckily, it didn't happen,” says Jorge.
The men have been a couple for 24 years.
They married in June 2011, a year after the approval of the Equal Marriage Law in Argentina.
They both dreamed of being parents, without ever imagining that one day they would become parents for six.
Most are looking for babies
In Argentina there are 1,718 files opened by people interested in the adoption of children or adolescents, according to data from January 2024 from the National Directorate of the Single Registry of Applicants for Guardianship for Adoptive Purposes (DNRUA), which depends on the Ministry of Justice of the Nation.
But only one in every hundred registered is willing to receive a teenage child.
In this sense, the national director of the Adoption Registry, Juan José Jeannot, maintains that currently there is “a situation of disagreement” in which the adoption projects of the registered adults do not match the particularities of the majority of the children who They expect a family.
Agustina Olmedo, general secretary of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) of Córdoba, in charge of the Office of Coordination in Children, Adolescence, Family Violence, Gender and Juvenile Penalty, explains that the waiting time for adoptive candidates varies according to the ages and personal conditions they have chosen;
for example, being willing to adopt children with disabilities.
“Surely the judges will be quicker to call those who have registered to adopt children over six years of age, as these are the ages with the fewest people registered,” she says.
The TSJ of Córdoba is carrying out a unique reform in the country to improve the judicial response and speed up the processes.
According to the latest report from the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family and Unicef for 2020, in Argentina there are 2,199 children and adolescents without parental care, many in adoptable conditions.
Official organizations carry out dissemination campaigns in favor of adoption in the country and are joined by other organizations made up of adopting families.
Elías and Sazoja actively participate in actions of this type through Militamos adoption, a non-profit organization.
From there they provide advice, disseminate public calls, share their experience and accompany those interested.
“The act of adopting is not realizing the dream of being a father;
If you only see it from that side, it can get complicated.
The priority always has to be on the children, on their needs, on their rights,” highlights Sajoza.
The meeting
Jorge Elías is an insurance producer and Víctor Sajoza, a French professor at the National University of Córdoba.
900 kilometers from Salta, in their mountain house of Agua de Oro, in the province of Córdoba, they say that their lives completely changed that day in July 2021 when they heard on TV the public call for the adoption of six brothers who were asking stay together.
The children had been separated from their home due to family problems on two occasions.
In the last one, in 2019, the Justice ordered distancing at the request of the children themselves.
Since then, and until a new family appeared, they lived in a home with institutional care.
Elías and Sajoza - who in the past had been a foster family for a baby for two years - did not have all these details at the time of hearing the news, but they were moved by the boys' request to stay together.
They contacted the Salta court and, from there, everything was dizzying.
In a matter of days, they were summoned to a “clearance interview,” the beginning of any adoption process;
They continued with more procedures and psychological tests until the hearing arrived to grant them custody.
At that moment, the little brothers already knew that there was a family that loved them.
“They had told the kids that there were two dads;
They celebrated that we are two men,” Jorge remembers.
In October of that year, in the largest room of the Salta Courts of Justice, and first of all, the sponsor of the little ones gave the couple some drawings made by the boys where they imagined them muscular, one bald and the other with long hair, saying: “Dads, we want to meet you.”
“At that moment, we all cried: us, the judge, the members of the technical teams,” says Jorge.
At the end of the hearing, they went out in search of him.
Zoe, seven years old;
Gonzalo, nine;
the twins Valentino and Benjamin, ten;
Luana, 11, and Tiziano, 12, had skipped school and had hidden in the house so Jorge and Víctor could play find them.
“When we opened the door they couldn't hold it and they all ran out to hug us.
It was very strong,” says Elías.
The Elías Sajozas as a family.
When they were adopted two years ago, the boys were between 7 and 12 years old.RAMIRO PEREYRA
They took them to a restaurant;
It was the first time the children went to a place like this.
They ordered Milanese with fries for everyone and when the waiter arrived to collect the service they stopped to clear the table.
They were worried about who would wash so many dishes, the parents say.
On December 13, 2021, they were granted adoption custody, and nine months later the final adoption.
On December 17 of that year they arrived in Agua de Oro, to the house that the Elías-Sajozas were expanding to accommodate the “family.”
“It was the first Christmas as a family.
It was nice and intense.
Bravo at the beginning, there were too many of us to organize ourselves with the issue of food, with the bathrooms because we had not finished the expansion.
We didn't even know what they liked,” Jorge remembers.
heal the wounds
From the first day Elías and Sajoza were dad Jorge and dad Víctor.
The kids even voted on the order in which the surnames would appear on their new ID: the Elías Sajoza option won.
Three of the children asked that their middle names, which brought back memories of the past, be removed.
“In daily life the same thing happens to us as to any family that has two teenagers, two pre-teens and two little children;
They are problems typical of age, little associated with what adoption was.
They were very eager to have a family, to change the family model and they found it, they liked it,” says Víctor.
The boys - it is evident - are proud to be adopted children.
“These are our parents,” they tell the whole world.
Jorge gets excited when he tells it.
“Our 'little ones' are resilient.
They have experienced more things than we can imagine.
Pretending that they come with a clean slate is impossible.
A baby also has its previous history and when she grows up she is going to have her best and worst moments,” Víctor thinks.
The couple believes that they must be accompanied to heal their wounds, to heal the past.
“Also in a biological family there are problems, difficulties.
The gratifying thing is seeing them improve themselves day by day,” adds Jorge.
They already have examples to tell.
Zoe, who is now nine years old, attended first and second grade during the pandemic and was diagnosed with learning problems that disappeared when she arrived in Córdoba and received the support of the school and the attention of her parents.
“The most surprising thing is when she discovers that she can;
She is constantly showing it, and she wants to hug her, kiss her in return,” says Victor.
In the house, everyone has their responsibility.
“We divide the tasks among all of us,” says Luana, now 13 years old.
Each one washes his plate, makes his bed and takes care of his clothes.
Then they do what they have to do that day: set the table or clean the house.
You can tell they are happy.
Luana and Zoe, on behalf of everyone, say that they wanted with all their might to be adopted and insist that they never thought about separating.
“Since we were little we grew up together, separating would not be so convenient… We already share things and we want to continue sharing them until we grow up,” says the oldest of the sisters, with a smile.
“We had been waiting for a family for a while, so when the news came we were very excited,” she concludes.