When Nicolae Ceausescu’s reign ended in Romania, the world was shocked by images of more than 100,000 children crammed into bleak institutions. Those pictures marked the beginning of our decades-long effort to end orphanages in Romania.

Today, thanks to your support, another dark chapter has closed. Ion Holban – Romania’s largest orphanage – has finally shut its doors.

Why Ion Holban mattered

Back in 2012, Iași County had the most children in institutions in Romania. The biggest was Ion Holban, housing over 215 children and young people at that time. Over the years, another 192 children passed through its gates – 403 in total who needed our help.

Closing Ion Holban became our priority. But it wasn’t easy. It took years of negotiation with local authorities, training staff, supporting families, and helping young adults transition to independence.

And now, after 11 years of hard work, every single child has been rehomed.

• 148 children are now safe with families (birth families, foster families, or kinship care).
• 158 young people are living independently or preparing to do so.
• The rest are thriving in family-style homes or community-based services.

The children behind the numbers

One of those young people is Flavia*. With our team’s support, and encouragement from her mentor Mălina, she has secured an apartment, a job, and a place at college to train as a nurse.

“Through the intervention and support of Hope and Homes for Children, I have become more determined and responsible, with the courage to move forward. Recently, my wings have been polished by Mrs. Mălina, who helps me continue in this new stage. Wings that fly thanks to these wonderful people.” – Flavia, former resident of Ion Holban

Flavia’s story is just one example of how children’s lives are transformed when they are freed from institutions and supported to grow in families or independent living.

Why this work is so important

It might surprise you to learn that 80% of children in orphanages worldwide are not orphans. Most have at least one living parent, but poverty, disability or discrimination forced them into institutions.

Orphanages can never replace the love and security of a family. Children raised in institutions can suffer developmental delays, trauma, and lifelong scars. That’s why closing orphanages is about more than shutting buildings – it’s about giving children back their childhoods.

With your help we can finish the job

The closure of Ion Holban is a huge milestone and brings us closer to the day when every child in Romania can grow up in the love of a family – but it’s not the end. There are still orphanages left in Romania, and the children inside them can’t wait.

At the start of 2025 we started to work on the closure of 12 institutions. So far, we have successfully closed five of them.

• We have helped 206 out of 331 children Back to Family.
• We have prevented 290 children out of 300 children from entering state care.
• We have helped 52 children and young adults out of 80 to transition out of state care.

Thanks to your support, and our Romania team’s tireless effort since 1998, there are now fewer that 1,000 children left in Romania’s institutions.

With your help, we can finish the job. You made the closure of Romania’s biggest orphanage possible. Now, will you help us close the last? Together, we can ensure that no child grows up without the love of a family.

• Read more about the amazing work of our team in Romania

_{*To ensure the safety and privacy of the people we support, the names of the children and relatives featured in this story have been changed.}

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Messages of joy and accomplishment are coming in from our team in Romania, having just closed yet another orphanage confining wrongfully separated children.

Following a complex two-year process, our Romania team successfully and safely closed the Mihael Sadoveanu Orphanage in Iași County earlier this month. Thanks to your donations, our team ensured every single child living inside was brought back to family.

Over thirty years since the world was shocked by images of children in Romanian orphanages, there are now only seven orphanages left in Iași County. And with your support, we’re set to have them all closed by the end of 2024.

Who was in the orphanage?

The orphanage held 40 children and young adults. All of them girls. None of them actually orphans.

Sadly, 80% of children in orphanages around the world have living family members they could, and should, be growing up with.

Find out more about why children end up in orphanages here.

Instead, the majority of children in orphanages are exposed to violence, abuse and neglect – vulnerable to physical and psychological harm that lasts a lifetime.

Find out more about how orphanages harm children.

How was the orphanage closed?

A cooperation agreement to close the institution was signed with the local government of Iași County in 2022.

Thanks to this partnership, our team was able to assess the needs of the children In the orphanage, find their families, and support them to bring their children home. Where they belong.

We’re also providing monitoring, counselling and support at every step of the reintegration process.

“Every closure is different in terms of work and challenges, but the feeling in the end is the same: a great joy and accomplishment.”

Adrian Oros – Hope and Homes for Children Romania

Find out more about how we safely close orphanages and bring children back to family here.

Where have the children from the orphanage gone?

Following an extended period of research, planning, family tracing and safeguarding procedures, our team helped find safe homes for each of the 40 girls inside.

Thanks to your continued support, we were able to get all of them either back to their biological families, into foster families, or into independent living schemes for those over 18.

Thank you

Since 1994, we’ve been committed to shutting down orphanages and getting children inside back to family. None of this would be possible without your support. Thank you.

“When the institution was closed down, we were happy that all of those children have left behind this large institution and they were now in a new place – family. We were and are happy to be able to contribute to this new stage in their lives, it feels like we have accomplished something not only for now, but also for the future.”

Adrian Oros – Hope and Homes for Children Romania

That’s 40 young lives who get the chance to start again. To feel love. Family. Home.

What’s next?

Thanks to this success, our team in Romania is ready to up the ante. With the help of the local government, we’re now set to shut down the seven remaining orphanages in Iași County, bringing every child inside back to family.

But we need your help.

Our team in Romania is set to close the last remaining orphanages in Iași County by the end of 2024. Will you help us bring each and every one of the children stuck inside these institutions back to family? Donate today.

The post UPDATE: Another orphanage successfully closed in Romania appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

“There is no love there. Children have food, clothes and maybe even toys, but they lack affection and care.” 

These are the words of Kseniia, a nurse turned whistleblower. For five years, she saw children in an orphanage in Ukraine endure violence, abuse and neglect, before being evacuated to safety in the Russian invasion.

Two years on, Kseniia wants to get these children back to family, as 80% have parents who could care for them at home. And she wants the doors to her old orphanage to remain closed forever.

Because in times of war, there’s nothing more important than family. 

Will you help us bring separated children back to family? Donate today. 

Orphanages exposed 

Kseniia started working as a nurse in an orphanage ten years ago. The living conditions shocked her immediately. “The children were not treated well there,’ Kseniia remembers. “They were hit on their hands, legs and backside with rods.”

Understaffed and overcrowded, Kseniia’s orphanage often had just one carer to fifteen children. The results were often violent. 

“When they were shouting or crying too much, the children were put under cold water. Or, they would turn the kids upside down, hold them by their feet and shake them.” 

The orphanage was also known as a ‘baby home.’ All children living inside were aged between zero and four. 

Abuse inside orphanages

For the next five years, Kseniia tried to protect the children under her care. But whenever she spoke out, she was silenced.

“Some colleagues didn’t like how I treated the children kindly and softly,” she says. “They said I was spoiling them. As a result, I was treated cruelly, and surely the kids were too.” 

Several children had disabilities and needed specialist support. But without the proper equipment or enough resources, the staff would strap them down. 

“We’d get visits from children living in other orphanages,” Kseniia remembers. “They told us that older children were being sexually violent with smaller ones.”

“Seeing some members of staff abusing children, and knowing about the physical, sexual or psychological violence, I felt very bad because I knew I couldn’t prevent it. All I could do was leave my job.” 

A broken system

Sadly, Kseniia orphanage was just one of 700 state-run institutions operating in Ukraine before the war.

Over 100,000 children lived inside them, an estimated 90% of whom had living parents who could take care of them. Instead of supporting families to overcome poverty or other challenges, a broken system separates children from their parents. Parents like Olena*.

Olena’s children were taken away from her and placed in an orphanage in Ukraine for two years, all because she couldn’t afford child care. “They didn’t even ask me if I wanted to send my children to an orphanage,” she says. “I grew up in one myself. I know how hard it really is.”

Olena, 41, holding her youngest daughter, Zlata*, one.
Halyna Kravets / Hope and Homes for Children

Read more about why children end up in orphanages on our website.

The importance of family

Unable to change the system from within, since quitting Kseniia is committed to raising awareness of the harms of orphanages.

“As a mother, I can’t even imagine how it’d feel if my children were taken away and placed in an orphanage,” she says. “They’d be mistreated, and there’d be nothing I could do about it.” 

“In orphanages, children feel like they’re in a prison,” Kseniia continues. “They’re fed, taken care of and put to bed, but it’s all on a very strict schedule. There were people there who treat children well, who love them and come to work for the sake of children, but you also have those who think it’s only a job.”

Even the best orphanages can’t provide what children need more than anything. Individual love and care. 

“It doesn’t matter how many toys there are, how clean it is, or how well the children are fed. In an orphanage, they’ll still lack the support that exists in any family where children are loved.” 

How the war impacts children inside orphanages

“During the war, making sure children get into families and receive psychological protection is more important than ever,” Kseniia says. “These children were already suffering because they weren’t with their parents.”

“When the war started, most of the orphanages closed in one day,” explains Yana Polishko, one of our case workers in Ukraine. “Some children were evacuated abroad, or to safe spaces in Ukraine. And some were evacuated home to their families. Where possible, we want these children to stay home. From violence to abandonment, children should not be subjected to the horrible impacts of institutions.” 

“Institutions are full of defenceless children who are lonely and scared. In wartime, it’s not safe to have children in large groups at one place. It’s much better for children to be with parents who can always take care of them.” 

How can you help support children from orphanages? 

As of February 2024, our team in Ukraine has prevented the separation of 12,958 children from 6,474 families due to the war in Ukraine. But as countless families still endure violence, displacement, and the loss of loved ones, there’s still a need for urgent support to help keep families together.

“It’s very difficult for some families to manage,” explains Yana. “They lost their jobs, there’s problems with electricity, and the prices for food and utilities almost doubled. Some and children have had to flee war.” 

That’s why we’re providing war-torn families with urgent financial, humanitarian and psychological support – whatever they need to stay together in times of crisis.

Will you help us protect children from being separated from their families? Donate today. 

Your help is helping keep families together. Thank you. 

“I dream that children will grow up in families with love, understanding and good treatment and that those loving families will help children change it all, bounce back, and grow up healthily.” 

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“The first time I went to the orphanage and left the children, I was crying so hard I almost couldn’t see the way back. I missed them every day.” 

Gabriela, 64, is the grandmother of Mihaela* and Iulian*. For nine years, they were locked away inside the largest orphanage in Romania. All because they had learning disabilities. 

Thanks to your donations, our team helped Gabriela bring Mihaela and Iulian back to family. Read on to find out how.

Will you help children with learning disabilities living in orphanages get back to family? Donate today. 

Sent to an orphanage in Romania

Gabriela lives with her husband in rural Iași County, northeast Romania. 

In 2012, she took in her four young grandchildren. Her daughter was struggling with addiction and could no longer support Mihaela, 11, Iulian, 8, or their two younger siblings, Valeria and Mihai. 

They’d been neglected, and were already years behind in school.

Gabriela loved her grandchildren more than anything. But soon after they moved in, she realised Mihaela and Iulian needed specialised support for their learning disabilities. But with no money and no suitable school nearby, Gabriela was worried. 

She reached out to social services, asking for help. But instead of supporting her to keep her grandchildren at home, they recommended Mihaela and Iulian be sent to an orphanage. 

Believing it was their only chance, Gabriela agreed. 

Why are children with disabilities placed in orphanages? 

Around the world, children with disabilities are much more likely to struggle to find inclusive education in their communities. For families living in poverty like Gabriela’s, accessing the right support can be near impossible. 

That puts children with disabilities at a much higher risk of being placed in orphanages.  

How do orphanages harm children with disabilities? 

Even the best orphanages can’t provide the one thing children need more than anything. Love. Shockingly, the majority of children in orphanages experience violence, abuse and neglect. And 80% have family they could be living with.

For children with like Mihaela and Iulian, it’s even tougher. Research has shown that young people with disabilities are at an ever greater risk of abuse. Girls are more likely to experience physical and sexual violence.

No matter what, every child deserves a place in their community. And no child should ever have to choose between education and their family. 

The pain of separation 

For the next nine years, Gabriela visited Mihaela and Iulian in the orphanage whenever she could.  

“I missed them every day,” she remembers tearfully. “I couldn’t see them around the table, eating, learning and playing with their siblings, Valeria and Mihai. But I wanted them to learn how to write and how to count money, so that they can do something when I’m no longer around.” 

Gabriela tried to bring Mihaela and Iulian home to their siblings, but with only two rooms, social services wouldn’t allow it. Her state allowances barely covered day-to-day living, let alone two more children. They spent everything they had. Her son even started working abroad to send money home, but it still wasn’t enough. 

Then, Gabriela heard the worst news yet. Unless she found some money fast, Valeria and Mihai would be taken away as well. 

How we support families like Gabriela’s 

Since 1998, our team in Romania has been working with the Romanian government to shut down orphanages and bring children back to family. Families like Gabriela’s. 

Radu Tohatan, our Social Work Manager, met Gabriela and listened to her situation. Our team worked with the local authorities to help Gabriela get back on her feet – anything she needed to bring Mihaela and Iulian home. 

Thanks to your donations, Gabriela was able to build a whole new extension of her house. That was the first step in Mihaela and Iulian’s journey home. 

Next, we connected the family to a nearby vocational school, so Mihaela and Iulian could continue their specialised studies. 

Then, we ensured Gabriela was financially strong. We offered her counselling and tailor-made support – the kind of support she needed nine years ago when she was separated from her grandchildren.  

Thanks to our team, everything changed. Gabriela, a strong grandmother of four, was reunited with Mihaela and Iulian. At last, they were back to family. 

Thank you

Today, Gabriela’s family is doing great. Mihaela and Iulian are living with their siblings and their grandparents and feeling much better. No longer shut away. Finally safe. 

 “Whatever I can provide, I provide,” Gabriela says. “I cook for them; I wash for them. The best thing is that now they’re back home with me. I love them very much, with all my heart.” And then she adds, with a smile, “though I wish they’d listen to me from time to time!” 

Gabriela’s family is just one of thousands we’ve supported since starting our work in Romania. Now, we’re on the cusp of closing every last orphanage in Romania.

Will you support our life-changing work in Romania? Donate today and help bring children out of an orphanage and back to family.

The post How Gabriela rescued her grandkids from an orphanage – “I missed them everyday” appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.