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.}

The post Romania’s largest orphanage is finally closed appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

“If the children are not enrolled in school and if your living conditions don’t improve, we have no other option but to put all children in a local placement centre,” said the representative from the Child Protection Department (CPD) upon meeting the Mihaescu family.

These are the words that rocked Ion* and Cristina’s* life. Loving parents of five children, they found out they were at risk of having each of their children taken away from them and placed in an orphanage.

Like millions of parents around the world – parents who are struggling, parents who need support – Ion and Cristina were faced with an unthinkable situation. Losing their children. Until people like you helped bring them bring strength back to family. This is their story.

How we help keep families together

Our team in Romania discovered the Mihaescu’s situation back in 2021.

Andreea, our social worker, remembers what it was like hearing the announcement from the authorities that the children would be taken away.

“It was a clear warning. I was there, I heard it first-hand. It made my heart skip a beat. Almost reflex-like, I covered Federica’s* ears when he said it. I knew the family’s situation needed rapid improvement.”

At the time, all five children and both parents were living in just one nine-square-meter room. Somehow, two tattered beds and a small table managed to fit in.

Ion used to work in construction as a day labourer, but, after lockdown and with construction sites being on and off, he couldn’t find work.

Cristina was taking care of the children. She used to work for a dry cleaner, but was now at home nursing baby Gabriela*, with minimum pay. Her low salary and the children’s social benefits – that’s all there was. And that was supposed to be enough for baby food, diapers, meds, food for the entire family, and clothes. It simply wasn’t.

The Mihăescus were living without electricity or access to any other utilities: no heat, no gas. They got water from a nearby well.

Stepping in to help

Thanks to your donations, Andreea was able to make a plan. She knew Ion and Cristina were great parents. They just needed help.

“I had to propose a plan to the Child Protection Department,” Andrea explains. “We’ll help with improving the living conditions and with enrolling the kids in school. ‘Will that work as a rapid intervention?’, I asked. Luckily, they were on board.”

The CPD and the local City Hall helped with enrolling all the children in school. Only Federica had ever gone to school, but she had dropped out. She wanted to go back. “What would I wear? I don’t have any shoes,” she said.

Our team started by getting the family basic staples: food, clothing, and hygiene items. With no electricity there was no fridge, so we focused on canned items, flour, oil, and cornflower. And then shoes and clothing for the kids.

We then focused on bringing electricity in. It took two months, but the family has electricity now. We bought a fridge, a washing machine, and a wood-burning stove. For the first time, there was heat inside the home.

“Ion did everything. He was a brick mason, a carpenter, a roofer, a concrete finisher, depending on what was needed,” says Andreea. He kept repeating, “Ma’am, I’ll do whatever it takes, just don’t let them take our kids away.”

“Ma’am, I’ll do whatever it takes, just don’t let them take our kids away.”

Ion

Together, at last

Thanks to your donations and the tireless work of our team, everything’s different for the Mihaescu’s now.

Their house is warm, safe and comfortable. Ion’s out working every day. Gabriel*, the oldest son, works alongside Ion on weekends, helping his dad support the family. Cristina will return to her job when Gina* turns two. But for now, she’s enjoying being together, at home, with her babies.

“We wouldn’t have made it without you. God bless you. I would never let go of my children.”

Cristina

Looking to the future, we want to ensure the children stay in school. They still need our support, especially around those moments when any family spends a bit more than usual. When schools started, for example, we helped with supplies, notebooks, pens, and backpacks. But no matter what, we want to stay by their side to make sure this family stays united.

As they deserve to.

If you’d like to hear more inspiring stories about families being helped to stay together, as well as more heartwarming examples of the impact of your donations, sign up to our Mailing List. We’ll keep you up-to-date as we bring strength and stability #BackToFamily.

Join the Mailing List

* Names changed to protect identity.

The post “I’ll do whatever it takes – just don’t let them take our kids away.” appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

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.

“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.

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.

“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.

All 35 children who had been in the orphanage are now safely back with their families, placed with new families through foster care, or moved into smaller, more supportive group homes. These family and community-led care alternatives will help the children thrive – away from the harm orphanages cause. 

Find out more about the harm of orphanages 

The 12 young adults who had also been in the orphanage have transitioned to living independently, helped by a new support service, a ‘Transit Centre’,  we set up in Botosani.  

The Transit Centre is the first support service for young people leaving the care system in the county. The Centre gives young care leavers support and assistance, as well as accommodation and counselling in order to support their transition into independent living. 

This is our 40th direct orphanage closure in Romania and the 95th closure globally.  

We’d like to thank our local partners in Botoșani – the local Child Protection Department – who helped to achieve this success. 

We’ll continue to fight to reform care systems around the world and dismantle orphanage-based care systems for good.

Find out more about what we do 

The post Hope and Homes for Children finalise another orphanage closure in Botoșani, Romania  appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

Mark and Alexandra were interviewed by presenter, Kirsty Wark, for an episode which reunited a group of people whose lives were all changed by the shocking children’s institutions uncovered in the Eastern European country 31 years ago. Joining Mark and Alexandra on the show were broadcaster Anneka Rice, whose television series Challenge Anneka followed the restoration of an orphanage in 1990; the former teacher Monica McDaid, who first inspired Anneka’s programme; Jane Nicholson, the founder of the Romanian charity FARA; and Luliana Georgiana, who grew up in an orphanage in Buftea.

On Christmas Day 1989, Nicolae Ceausescu, the former communist leader of Romania, was overthrown and executed, along with his wife Elena. A few days later, Western journalists started to discover abandoned children living in horrifying conditions in orphanages throughout the country. One of those children was Hope and Homes for Children Global Ambassador Alexandra Smart. Alexandra was just days old when her young mother was coerced into placing her into Bucharest’s notorious “Number 1” orphanage. Distressed, ignored, rocking side to side in her metal cot – the first three years of Alexandra’s childhood were misery.

“I was so young when I lived in the orphanage, but I subconsciously blocked out any memories I did have,” recalls Alexandra, now aged 33. “But after being adopted and moving to England aged three-years-old, the damage of the orphanage slowly began to show in my behaviour. My parents remember me falling off of my swing in the garden with a big bang, but I didn’t cry. Until then, crying wasn’t a learnt behaviour for pain or distress. This is a common trait for many babies who grow up in orphanages. When they cry, nobody comforts them, so they learn to not cry.”

“When babies who grow up in orphanages cry, nobody comforts them, so they learn to not cry.”

“Not long after I came to England our Romanian friends visited and spoke Romanian to me, but it subconsciously brought back distressing memories and I smacked my head on our stone floor to stop them talking. My parents quickly learnt the familiarity of my birth tongue was too painful for me to hear.”
Thirty years on, and Alexandra is a successful filmmaker and photographer, who lives happily rural Somerset.
“I was lucky to survive the orphanage, and that’s why I support Hope and Homes for Children and its global movement to get children out of orphanages and into families,” said Alexandra.

Hope and Homes for Children founder Mark Cook recounted: “It’s remarkable to think that 30 years on from when I first stepped into a Romanian orphanage, the country is now on the cusp of becoming orphanage-free. In 1990 there were more than 100,000 children locked up in 600 Romanian orphanages. Today, just 3,700 children remain in 134 institutions.”

“It’s remarkable to think that 30 years on from when I first stepped into a Romanian orphanage, the country is now on the cusp of becoming orphanage-free.”

“Working with the Romanian Government and local authorities, we have transitioned the old orphanage system to one of family-based care. This remarkable transformation has never been done anywhere else in the world. Indeed, countries such as Rwanda, India, South Africa, Sudan and Nepal have all visited Romania so they can replicate the reforms. This is something that Romania, and every Hope and Homes for Children supporter, can be truly proud of.”

Listen to the full radio programme here.

The post Romanian orphanages, 31 years on appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

Alexandra Smart is 33; a talented professional filmmaker; and lives happily in the idyllic Somerset countryside with her beloved pet Dachshund Odie. What you wouldn’t guess about Alexandra, is that she spent the first three years of her childhood warehoused in a grim Romanian orphanage. Her experience inside Bucharest’s notorious “Number 1” orphanage was beyond horrific. Distressed, ignored, rocking side to side in her metal cot – the first three years of her childhood were misery.

“My biological mother was just a teenager who lived at home with her parents when she had me in 1987, and Romania was a closed Communist state which was economically on its knees.

“With no support, she had little option but to place me in the orphanage next door to the hospital.”

When the former Romanian Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu came to power in 1965, he promoted population growth to boost the economy. Abortion was outlawed for women under the age of 40, and as a consequence the birth rate soon rocketed. Despite fertility being an instrument of state control, levels of poverty worsened, and large numbers of children were placed into a growing network of orphanages.

The conditions were shocking. Rooms rammed with urine and vomit stained metal cots. Children tied to the metal bars. No heating. Few staff. And zero hope.

“I was very young when I lived in the orphanage, and subconsciously I blocked out any memories,” admits Alexandra.

When Ceausescu was overthrown and executed on Christmas Day, 1989, Romania was in political and economic turmoil. After decades of tight media control, Western journalists re-entered the country. And it wasn’t long before they discovered Romania’s hidden network of harmful children’s institutions.

The world was shocked, and foreign aid soon flooded into the country to help the children trapped in orphanages. Some institutions were renovated, so the children could remain living there. Meanwhile, thousands of other children were put up for adoption. This included 700 children, like Alexandra, who moved to Britain with new adoptive parents.

Under its fledging democratic political system, Romania soon realised that even the most well-equipped orphanage couldn’t give a child with what it really needed to thrive – the love of a family. So by the mid 1990s the focus changed to closing orphanages and moving children back into families. And by 2001, a suspension on international adoption meant all children living in orphanages had the opportunity to be reunited with their birth families, in their native country.

“When I was three-years-old, Romania was in chaos, and it was a state of emergency for children like me, locked up in the orphanages,” says Alexandra.

“At the time people didn’t realise that 80 per cent of children living in orphanages weren’t actually orphans and had living families. Many could have been reunited with their families, given the right support and infrastructure.

“But at the time international adoption was seen as one of the only solutions.

“Like many of the people travelling to Romania at that time, my adoptive parents were shocked by the conditions they witnessed in my orphanage.

“My mother remembers how there was virtually no heating and how we were washed with cold water. My body was covered in thin hairs, which I’d developed to combat the cold.”

After moving to England, the damage of the orphanage slowly began to show in Alexandra’s day-to-day behaviour.

“My mother recalls me falling off of my swing in the garden with a big bang, but I didn’t cry. Until then, crying wasn’t a learnt behaviour for pain or distress. This is a common trait for many babies who grow up in orphanages. When they cry, nobody comforts them, so they learn to not cry.

“Not long after I came to England our Romanian friends visited and spoke Romanian to me, but it subconsciously brought back distressing memories and I smacked my head on our stone floor to stop them talking. My parents quickly learnt the familiarity of my birth tongue was too painful for me to hear.

“My mum also remembers taking me on a walk around a lake when I was four-years-old, but because I’d never seen a body of water before, I attempted to walk straight over the lake. The only water I’d seen before was out of a tap or hose.”

Alexandra went on to live a happy childhood in Wiltshire. And in 2002 she travelled back to Romania and made contact with her biological mother.

“It was an intensively emotional, and incredible experience to meet her,” recalls Alexandra. “I’ve been back a number of times since, including for a university film project, where I followed my adoption diary. This included visiting my old orphanage and meeting my grandparents.”

Today, Alexandra leads what she describes as a very lucky life. She says: “Some of the Romanian children who were adopted overseas were less fortunate than me. In the absence of transparent checks it wasn’t in their best interest, and it exposed some kids to further neglect.

“I was lucky to survive the orphanage, and to be given such amazing new adoptive parents.

“During the last year, the global pandemic has given us all time to reflect on the things and people that matter most to us. I’ve gone back over my own story, and its reinforced just how important family is.

“It’s also made me more passionate than ever to support Hope and Homes for Children and its global movement to shut every last orphanage on Earth.”

When Alexandra left her institution in 1990 there were more than 100,000 children locked up in 600 Romanian orphanages. Today, just 3,700 children remain in 134 institutions.

Alexandra said: “Romania is so close to shutting its last orphanage, and that’s so inspiring, considering the situation it was in only three decades ago.

“But I find it shocking that 31 years on from when I left my orphanage, there’s still 5.4 million children locked up in orphanages elsewhere around the world. In the 21st century, orphanages are not a solution.

“I was lucky enough to be adopted into a loving family, but today, more needs to be done to prevent children entering orphanages in the first place.

“Vulnerable families must be supported to stay together. And children in institutional care must be reintegrated with their birth families, or found new loving foster families in their local community.

“Because as I know only too well, children need families – never orphanages.”

You can listen again to Mark and Alexandra’s interview on The Reunion here

The post Meet the Romanian orphan who wants to shut every orphanage on Earth—31 years after Ceausescu appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.