Abandonments at the National Level in Romania - Part 8

"Why is everything perfectly simple in Dolj?"

by Adriana Oprea-Popescu

Jurnalul National

July 8, 2005

In the first five months of this year (2005) there were 101 children abandoned in Dolj county. However, authorities there maintain that the whole business is going well. If we can depend on that statistic as being accurate and not low, (something which it is very difficult for us to do when it comes to CPS units), what, we ask, is the secret of this unconscious "productivity"? In order to discover the secret, we went to the county which occupies the "pole position" -- Dolj. Children in the Emergency Orphanage in Craiova have remained there for many long months until the resolution of their cases. The workers there have become "borrowed mothers" who have at least 6 children each.

The Craiova county hospital has 12 floors and a capacity of 1600 beds. This hospital has an army of directors who become very aggressive when it comes to a personal work with anyone from the press. In our previous professional relationships, there were many among them who, being disturbed, sent us back to where we came from. In Dolj, everybody sends us to the official spokesperson. This person continually keeps his phone turned off. In his absence, the other medical people fled from before us as if we had come to frighten them rather than to make a documentary. After much investigation, we found out that there were three abandoned children in the hospital. The records show that there were 74 children abandoned in this hospital in the first 5 months of 2005. All were healthy. However, a social worker in the hospital informed us that there were 67 children abandoned just in the maternity unit of the hospital. She did add that many were reintegrated into their families. When we risked a question, "But how do things really stand?", we were told go to CPS. You must receive their permission to come here in this hospital. End of conversation. Complicated are the musings of bureaucracy. Even though we weren't permitted to even explain our motives for coming, the director of the pediatric section told us, "If you love these children, speak about them."

At another hospital in Craiova, "Filantropia" we spoke with Dr. Antonia Ciupeanu. She told us there were 38 abandonments in the first 5 months of 2005. Some of them occasionally receive a visit from their mothers. Most of these children are healthy, affirmed Dr. Ciupeanu. "There are many more abandoned children this year than last year," she said.

The abandoned newborns have formula but not clothes or pampers. They still use flannel diapers which aren't changed very often. "Don't they get a rash?" we asked. "Sure, but they get irritation from Pampers, too," said the directress.

Out of the 101 cases of abandonment, we were told that 90 were resolved. But a number of those were 'resolved' via placement in the Emergency Orphanage in Craiova. Did we hear correctly? Placement in an orphanage??! The new law states that placements of this kind are forbidden, except in the case where the child is severely handicapped. So we decided to try to find out what kind of children are in this Emergency Orphanage. But of course, to enter there, we found out we had to get permission from the local CPS. Having received approval, we went for a tour like visitors in a museum. We even saw a room where parents could come and visit their abandoned children. In one room, there were six cribs each with a child in them. They were about 6 months old and cried only to make us look at them. They didn't make any claims to be held but only for us to look at them and perhaps to smile. There are 17 abandoned children in this Emergency Orphanage, but only 5 have any serious problem. Most of their problems are heart problems which are inoperable in Romania. They remain condemned. The other 12 are healthy. During the day there are usually 4 people on the first two shifts. On the night shift, there are only 3 employees. How can one person handle 6 babies if they all start to cry at once? There is another law which states that there must be at least one educator for every 2-4 children on each shift. These children are between 2 months and 18 months of age. We were told that they remain here "a definite period of time". Until the age of majority?? That's a definite period of time. Of the 17, only 2 have been visited by the parents. For the rest, God have mercy. It's only fair to say, however, that this Orphanage in Craiova is not the only one in this country that illegally houses healthy children under the age of 2.

In four months of investigation, we saw hundreds of abandoned children. The ones in Craiova are not necessarily the most victimized. For the most part they haven't come in contact with very sick children like those who are in the hospitals. What has happened, at least from our point of view, is immoral. It's also illegal! And it's a kick in the stomach to the law nr. 272 from the year 2004 with regard to the protection of the rights of the child.

In Dolj, there are 198 foster parents, (five of them are males) who have 336 children in their care. There are cases in which these foster parents have 6 children given to them in foster care. This year, two children died while under the care of these foster parents. In one case, a severely ill little girl 4 years of age was left alone because the foster parent (maternal assistant) was at work in the field. An autopsy showed that death was due to inhaling her own vomit. However, the police determined that it was not the maternal assistant's fault. This maternal assistant was put on leave but will have a psychological evaluation and will be able to have another child in foster care. The other child who was 11 months old, died of a heart defect which was not found by the doctors.

In Dolj, there are an average of 25 newborns abandoned per month. This doesn't include other abandonments. But the situation is perfectly under control. At least that's what Victoria Croitoru, assistant director at the CPS maintains. In the first 6 months of this year, CPS in Dolj received 154 notices of abandonments. Victoria Croitoru maintains that 100 were reintegrated into their families. She told us that the reintegration process usually does not take much more than 3 months, but we have had cases, she said, in which these children were re-abandoned. Steliana Boian, a counselor at CPS Dolj, is of the opinion that reintegration in the birth family is not always the best solution. She said that in many cases of reintegration the children were integrated into families of drunks, who did not in any way care for these poor children and who drank away all the money. It follows, then, that many times these children are abandoned once again.