Abandonments at the National Level in Romania - Part 6

Retarded because of a lengthy hospitalization

By: Paula Anastasia Tudor

July 5, 2005 Jurnalul National

Nasuf was abandoned in the pediatric hospital when he was 6 months old. He was brought there by arelative who didn't know anything about him, not even his birth date. The boy has now spent 2 ½years in the hospital for no reason. In the Medgedia hospital in Constanta county, this little boyhas not ever celebrated a birthday because nobody knows exactly when he made his entrance into theworld. Eight months after he was abandoned, Nasuf's little brother was brought to the same hospital.Nasuf is clinically healthy but is delayed in his psychological development because of his lengthyhospitalization. We found another three children in the exact same situation.

According to information furnished by Mirela Gene, assistant director at Constanta CPS, there are,on average, 19 children abandoned each month. In the first five months of 2005, there were 45children abandoned. But in the registry of CPS Constanta there were 53 abandoned children andaccording to Dr. Mirceni Popescu, "At the beginning of the year, we had 60 abandoned children in thehospital. Last year they might have been candidates for adoption and would have been adopted into apermanent family. But now under the new law, they have a very long road to get to that point andwill probably remain in the hospital for many months or even years."

Many of the children abandoned in the hospital are basically healthy. But in the hospital, which bydefinition includes a multitude of sick people, the risk that these healthy children will becontaminated grows exponentially the long they are in the hospital. Neonatologist, Dr. Teodora Bucurtold us that the nurses have become substitute mothers for these children. She said, "I'd take themall home but under the new law it's not possible. Their situation is legally unclear. We had a cutelittle girl here and a foreign family came to visit us and wanted to adopt her. Other foreignfamilies came as well. The mother is in Italy. Because it was so difficult to find the mother, thechild is not now adoptable internationally. Conditions in our hospital only allow us to keepchildren up to the age of 1 month. What are we going to do? Our beds are a kind of crib. Clothing isdiapers. Food is baby formula. But the children grow, the beds can't hold them and are dangerous.Their clothing comes from medical personnel who work in the hospital or from other people who knowabout their situation."

She continued, "Mothers come, give birth and run away, abandoning the child. If one comes backwithout identity papers, how can we give them the child when we don't even know that it is hers? Ifwe give her the child and it is found in the garbage, something that has happened, we will probablybe found guilty."

The law states that within five days of abandonment, and if the health of the child permits, the CPSis required to place the child in foster care. This foster care is supposed to be with fosterparents. "But in actuality this doesn't happen because there is not enough money to pay the fosterparents," said Mirela Gene. Consequently, the children remain in the hospitals. Doctor Bucurmaintains that, "We are already seeing the number of children abandoned in the maternity hospitalsgrow because of this financial crisis." The law also states that the police must find the motherwithin 30 days. But it is rare that they ever do. If they don't find her, the child's case is sentto the public assistant's office. They have 5 days to establish a family name and a first name forthe child and to officially register the birth of the child with the appropriate civil authorities.There is yet another problem. Usually at least 40 days have passed since the birth of the child. Butif the registration of the child's birth does not take place within the first 15 days, city hallissues a fine of $15. There are no exceptions made to this. Not even for the public assistanceoffices who are in fact under city hall.

If the child is over 1 year old, his birth information can only be registered via a court sentence.And of course this process takes a long time. Furthermore, a child without a birth certificate doesnot benefit from social assistance nor free medical help. From the perspective of the NationalHealth Insurance Authority, these children do not exist because they do not have a personalidentification number and birth certificate.

Is it worth it to wait for a parent for 2 ½ years while lying on a bed in a hospital and gazingtoward the door?! In the Medgidia Municipal Hospital there are 10 such children. Andreea Bianca hasbeen condemned by her parents, who, after abandoning her in the hospital now refuse to sign for anoperation that she needs. The hospital can do nothing for Andreea because through the law herparents still retain their rights over the child. Her lengthy hospitalization, in addition to the lack of surgical intervention, has led to chronic infantile encephalitis. She also has delayedmental development because of this birth defect.

To return to the case of Nasuf and his brother. Nasuf doesn't have a birth certificate. On his chartis written the following: "dystrophy, anemia, rickets, retarded psycho-motor skills because oflengthy hospitalization." This child could recover if he would grow up in a family who loved him andwanted him. After a long investigation, the mother of these two boys was found and reunited withthem in the hospital. Someone from Constanta CPS informed those in the hospital that they had foundthe father of the two boys. This person said that the father will come and take the boys. But twoweeks have gone by and the father has not come.

Last year, there were 6 children who were reintegrated into their families from the MedgidiaMunicipal Hospital. In the first half of this year, 5 have been reintegrated. However, there arestill others who remain in the hospital, "where it is not appropriate for them to be." So saidFlorina Draghiceanu. Many times it is written on their charts, "retarded psycho-motor developmentdue to lengthy hospitalization."

Some children are taken from the maternity hospital but are not put into families. Rather, they aretaken to the pediatric hospital. There are children who have been brought to these pediatrichospitals by the parents and abandoned there for many months. No solution has been found for them.The parents can leave them whenever they want and take them whenever they want. And most of the timeat home there are conditions which contribute to repeated sicknesses.

Legally, these children are far from being considered abandoned or adoptable and thus not much canbe done for them. The parents seem not to want them, but are unwilling to give up their rights. Butin extremely rare cases, some "deposited" children do go home to stay with their parents.

At the Constanta County Hospital, the pediatric ward is on the 10th floor. The children stay inrooms with 4 beds. There are 8 abandoned children at this time, including twin girls who are 10months old. These two do have some medical problems. They are blind. They could be operated on inBucharest, but no one can tell us why this medical intervention has not taken place until thispoint. Another abandoned girl, Sibela, was left by her parents after they briefly took her home fromthe hospital. No one has come to see her and she has three siblings at home.

Vintila N. was admitted on December 7, 2004, for an intestinal operation. He was operated on and isfine. He was 6 months old when he came to the hospital. He is now over a year old and nobody came toget him. He doesn't have a birth certificate. Demirel is the 11th child in his family. The mother is43 and the father is 57. He is 4 months old. He was brought to the hospital on June 11 and nobodyhas expressed any interest in him. Maxun is over 2 years old and has been admitted to the hospitalrepeatedly. He does not have a birth certificate. And as is usual in Romania, if you don't have abirth certificate, you don't exist! There are others like him in all the other hospitals inRomania. Mihaela Disinov told us, "It's not healthy for them to stay in the hospital. It affectsthem physically and psychologically." The problem with attempting to put these children in fostercare is that there is no money to do so. The threat of running out of money for foster parents alsoexists as was witnessed previously in Constanta. Thus, the threat of foster parents being laid offand the children sent back to the orphanages still exists.