Radu, our Social Work Manager in Romania has been collaborating with Simona for over eight years, and they recently worked together to reunite the Vancea* family, whose story is the focus of our Winter Crisis Appeal. After the children’s mother died suddenly, seven-year-old Nelu and his four elder siblings were taken to an orphanage where they lived for two years, cut off from their family, until Radu and Simona supported the children’s uncle to prepare the house for the children and win his legal battle to bring them home.

“I first met Simona in 2014,” Radu explained to me. “When Hope and Homes for Children started working in Iași County. We want to close all the institutions in the county, and to do that we need to find family-based care for all the children living there. Simona was – and still is – one of the key people in the Iași child protection directorate with whom we work to find safe, loving families for each of these children. Simona, together with her team, contributes significantly to the process of closing institutions in Iași County. She’s a specialist with a lot of experience and has a strategic vision for the deinstitutionalisation process.”

Here, in this interview, Simona gives an insight into her 25-year career as a social worker in Romania, and how her involvement with Hope and Homes for Children brought a fresh perspective, a new approach, and smiles to children’s faces.

“Hope and Homes for Children brought change and a new perspective – trust, devotion and above all, that quality that all social workers should have but that cannot be learned in school – humanity.”

A new partnership, a new perspective

Natalia: How long have you been a social worker?

Simona: I’ve been a social worker in Romania for 25 years. I cannot tell you the number of children whose lives I’ve been involved in, but I have done it every time with passion and put the children’s interests above all else. Obviously being a parent gives me a different perspective on the profession of being a social worker. Every time, I tried to focus all my efforts on the outcome that I would want someone to do for my child if he were in a similar situation. But when I met Radu from Hope and Homes for Children, he brought change and a new perspective.

How did you come to know Hope and Homes for Children?

I came to know Hope and Homes for Children Romania through the partnership they initiated with the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection. The Directorate needed to designate a liaison person to coordinate and support Hope and Homes for Children’s interventions in Iași County, and they chose me.

Up until then, my experience as a social worker had meant working in the field of adoption and family-type protection of children. But through the partnership with Hope and Homes for Children, I personally reached the point where I understood that the best thing you can do for a child is to help them stay with their own parents, and not in a substitute family.

For me, personally and professionally, Hope and Homes for Children Romania meant a new perspective, it meant hope, opportunity and an example worth following.

Poverty is not a reason for family separation

What impact has Hope and Homes for Children made in Iași County?

Poverty should not be a reason for any child to be abandoned, nor should it be a reason why a child is separated from their family. But unfortunately, over time, many children have been separated from their families merely due to poor living conditions and lacking basic items. Just as Nelu and the rest of the Vancea* siblings were. And at the same time, many children living in institutions weren’t given the chance to return to their families purely because their families didn’t have basic items.

But Hope and Homes for Children, through their involvement at Iași county level at least, has made the difference between children growing up in institutions, and growing up in a family. For every child we’ve fought for, they’ve provided both material and emotional support – understanding and covering the costs of all the needs I’ve identified, so that those children can grow up with their parents.

Because the most important thing for every child is to grow up with their parents. As parents provide the foundation and consistency that brings them safety, balance and belonging.

Light at the end of the tunnel

How did you and Radu work together to support the Vancea siblings?

With the story of the Vancea family – Nelu and his siblings – I felt the light at the end of the tunnel. The solution was to return them to their grandmother’s and uncle’s family. I discussed it with Radu and together we developed a plan to return the children to their family. The purpose of our joint plan was to reunite the children with their family.

Radu appeared in my professional and personal life and without saying too many words, he brought change and a new perspective – trust, devotion and above all, that quality that all social workers should have and that cannot be learned in school – humanity.

What I saw in Radu, I found in our other partners and collaborators at Hope and Homes for Children Romania too. I had this feeling that every time we met people I didn’t know, there was a reunion.

If Hope and Homes for Children Romania had not been involved in the project of closing the institutions in Iași County, the Vancea siblings would still be in an institution.

Hope and Homes for Children Romania was that missing piece of the puzzle that meant support, resources, hope – all together meaning the return of the Vancea siblings to their uncle and grandmother.

How did you feel about helping reunite the family?

I feel a joy and satisfaction that maybe few professions have – the smile of the children, their grandmother and uncle and their family. Even if no one will ever replace their mother and father – I believe their wider family manages to provide them with security, with affection, and with a future that will enable them to achieve their full potential.

The future of childcare reform

What is your hope for the future of child care reform in Romania?
Reform in the child protection system as I see it, and how I imagine it at grassroots level, would mean identifying resources and mechanisms so that the state and NGOs intervene by supporting parents to raise their children – teaching them, educating them, and helping them. This means financing the mechanisms of prevention in child protection. Another step I consider very important is continuing to close down institutions. This requires identifying families who can meet the needs of children in institutions and who can temporarily protect them, and paying great attention to young care-leavers who still need our support.

The greatest achievement of my career

Can you describe how your work has shifted toward closing institutions?
Previously, the nature of my work did not give me the opportunity to interact very much with institutions or placement centres. I was focused on child protection for children in family care and foster care. But with the arrival of Hope and Homes for Children Romania, and once they had established their partnership with the Directorate, this completely changed.

We began to interact incredibly closely with the institutions and the children living there. I had the chance – and the challenge – to work on the closure projects for these institutions. And through this experience, I had the opportunity to realise that nothing is impossible, that in institutions where there were children with disabilities who we never thought we’d find families for, all these things were in fact possible.

Through this experience, I had the opportunity to realise that nothing is impossible.

The feeling of these things being impossible came not from a lack of care or involvement, but because of the lack of resources to create that family environment that any child, and in particular, children with disabilities, needs. And Hope and Homes for Children brought that “something” which was missing, giving us the opportunity to think of a plan that we might never have come up with if it wasn’t for the resources, involvement and intervention that they brought to our county.

And so, after more than 20 years in my profession, I felt the greatest professional achievement of my career when we successfully closed the institution in Târgu Frumos. And I also feel a huge sense of satisfaction as we continue to work together on closing Ioan Holban institution.

*names changed to protect identity

The post Trust, devotion and humanity: A new partnership, a new perspective appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

Soaring inflation – currently at 34% – an energy crisis, and war in neighbouring Ukraine have put a huge strain on Moldovan families. Despite the rising costs of food and fuel, earlier this year, foster families were still receiving the same amount of money to look after vulnerable children in need of protection. The difficult economic conditions have been causing untold stress for many of these families, who are desperate to keep helping their children, but unsure how to make ends meet.

Thankfully, our partners CCF Moldova, who have been working alongside the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, were able to launch a voucher scheme to deliver top up vouchers to all foster families, to help them through the current crisis.

“By distributing these top up food vouchers, we’ve been able to help reduce the level of stress and possible negative coping strategies for these families.  Not only that, but we’ve helped avoid the worst possible outcome for children – to be removed from foster families, who can no longer afford to care for them”

CCF Moldova Director, Dr Liliana Rotaru

Thanks to all our generous supporters, the vouchers will help pay for food and save money for bills. They’ll enable families not only to buy more nutritious food, but will also leave a little room for fun – the holiday sweet treats or small gifts that every parent wants their child to enjoy at Christmas.

The voucher scheme has been warmly welcomed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. On 11 October, ministry representatives joined our Moldovan colleagues to hand out vouchers to families in two counties and then posted a short article on their website (in Romanian).

All families have responded very positively to the scheme

This is what active family support looks like. Read more on how we keep families together.

The post Keeping foster families safe and together in Moldova this winter appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

“The children were crying and screaming”

With the right support, their uncle, Ion*, and grandmother could, and would, have taken care of their beloved nieces and nephews. But instead of supporting Ion to prepare his home for five children, the authorities took the children away. None of the children’s wider family members were consulted, warned, or even told where the children were being taken.

“When I heard the children had been taken, I thought it was a bad joke,” Ion remembers. “The children were crying and screaming. It was like being kidnapped. Some strangers came and took them, put them in the car and drove away. The youngest, Nelu, was only two.”

Alina*, the eldest, remembers their time in the orphanage: “I didn’t like it there because some of the girls were mean to us. They used to take our clothes out of our wardrobes and sometimes they would take some of our food, so we didn’t have enough food to eat.”

When asked if she missed home, she says: “Oh my god, I missed home so much. I couldn’t wait to go back home.”

Fighting for family

For years, the authorities in Romania have focused on placing vulnerable children in institutions or finding them foster families. Denied the love and belonging of their own family. But since 2014, our team has been partnering with the child protection department in Iasi County to show them a better way – closing institutions and instead supporting families to care for their children, only turning to foster care as a last resort. Never orphanages.

Determined to get his beloved nephews and nieces back, Ion started a long legal battle to bring them home. Thanks to our partnership with the child protection department in Ion’s county, after almost two years, the court finally ruled that the children could go home, but on the condition that the house met specific living requirements.

Ion couldn’t afford to buy the items alone, so Radu, our Social Work Manager in Romania, paid for the basics Ion needed to convince the judge to let him bring the children home. This included clothes, food vouchers, school supplies, bedroom furniture and crucially – a stove for the children’s bedroom, to keep them warm through the winter.

Ion says, “I’m very happy and I’d like to thank Mr. Radu for what he did. We didn’t have a stove in their bedroom, that was expensive… it was winter, and we needed heat. I wanted to build one, but there was no time. So Mr. Radu helped me and bought a stove and a few days later, we brought the kids home. It was such a great relief for us.”

Alina remembers this moment well: “When I came back to my uncle’s house, I felt very, very good. We went out for pizza to celebrate.”

“I was so happy and relieved that I’d escaped from the institution and that I was back with my family. Home is more beautiful. And at home, we have our freedom.”

A different perspective

Simona, 47, has been a government social worker in Romania for 25 years and worked closely with Radu to help reunite Nelu and his siblings with their uncle and grandmother.

Simona explains the difference our team have made in her work, and in the children’s lives.

“For me, personally and professionally, Radu and Hope and Homes for Children Romania meant a new perspective. It meant hope, opportunity and a worthy example to follow. Above all, it meant that quality that any social worker should have but that cannot be learned in school and that is – humanity. If it weren’t for Hope and Homes for Children Romania’s involvement, Nelu and his siblings would still be in an institution.”

Together again

Now at Christmas, instead of being trapped in the orphanage, cut off from the people who love him, Nelu is having snowball fights, playing on his uncle’s wheelbarrow and spending time with his family round a warm fire. All because donations from our valued supporters paid for emotional and practical support, bedroom furniture, and a stove.

Despite the tragic loss of their mother, with the love and support of their uncle, Nelu and his brothers and sisters are thriving and doing well in school. The joy they feel being at home with their uncle shines through on each of their faces. They love playing cards together, football, hide and seek, feeding their livestock, and playing on their uncle’s horse and cart. “My favourite thing about my family is playing with them,” Nelu says.

Ion is enjoying taking care of the children, with the help of his new partner. He works as a security guard for a fishing pond, travelling there on his horse and cart, and ably provides for the family.

“My uncle is a good man,” the eldest, Alina, says. “He is here for us whenever we need it. He provides everything for us.”

“I love them like my own children,” Ion says, “not my nephews, but my children.”

Ion was happy to share his story in the hope that it will help prevent other children from experiencing the same trauma. “All these things need to be changed,” he reflects. “When staying with families is possible, kids should never be taken like this, taken from their nest and placed somewhere where they feel like they’re in prison.”

“I would be very happy to know that due to sharing our story, other people can be helped.”

The post “It was like being kidnapped” – Nelu’s story appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.