Romanian Children Denied Loving Homes

Comments from Z: Although I agree with most of what Bell says in this opinion piece, she should have mentioned that she recently hosted a fundraiser for her organization at the Romanian Embassy in D.C. and obviously enjoys a very nice relationship with Ambassador Ducaru and other Embassy staff. I know of innumerable NGO's in Romania who are currently being harrassed by the local and executive Romanian government and do not receive the support that she is receiving - not to mention other the harassment others like Bruce Thomas are continuing to endure for speaking out about the abuse of abandoned children. Additionally, I know of several organizations that also work with street children in Bucharest, as she does, and other major cities, who frequently complain that the Romanian government continues to stonewall and make it next to impossible for them to obtain birth certificates for the street children they work with. This means the children cannot go to school or receive medical care.

May 18, 2006
by Mary Ann Bell

It is the job of a journalist to look under rocks and show the world what the world would rather not see. Starving, disabled children tied to orphanage beds in Romanian institutions is right up there with things we would all rather not see. But as long as even one neglected and abused child exists in conditions like that shown by ABC’s Nightline (in a program that aired on Wednesday, May 10th), it is one too many--and we cannot look away.

Sensational stories boost ratings and sometimes save lives. But if the goal of this exposé was to bring about change for disabled orphans in St. Pantelimon, these journalists should have quenched their thirst a little for scandal and been willing to show the good in Romania today as well as decry the evil.

And the question should have been asked: why did Mental Disability Rights International, the organization that investigated these conditions, wait for months after the facility in Braila had been closed and the children moved into improved conditions before they released their report, only days before the European Union was to issue its decision on membership? As a May 11 article in the Washington Post observed, it was aimed at giving ammunition to people seeking to delay that membership. Why now? Wouldn’t Romania’s efforts to care for its abandoned children be enhanced by participation in the world community? This story was all stick and no carrot.

Clearly Romania must be forthcoming with the investigation they have instituted, admit their responsibility, and finally make changes based solely on the good of the children. But this tragedy has enough guilt to go around. Under pressure from the EU, Romania imposed a moratorium and then a ban on international adoptions. Baroness Emma Nicholson, the EU ‘coach’ for Romania’s accession, equates foreign adoption with child trafficking. She has made it her stated goal in life to end international adoption for Romanian orphans because she believes that children are better off in institutions than homes outside their native culture. Tell that to the children of St. Pantelimon or the 1,100 so-called ‘pipeline’ children of Romania who were in the process of being adopted when the Baroness managed to drop an iron curtain on their only hope for a family.

Bureaucrats in Brussels who had never spent a day in the shoes of a Romanian orphan also pushed the Romanian government to pass flawed laws that put children in the ‘night and fog’ of a loveless foster care system or that reintroduced them back into potentially abusive ‘natural’ families that had abandoned them years before. These ‘enlightened’ laws were meant to appease the EU and win acceptance. That the EU should make such demands is appalling, according to Senator Sam Brownback, but that Romania accepts such orders is equally troubling.
The rest of the truth is that there are concerned people in the Romanian government who are working for change and assisting grassroots organizations like ours that work at the local level rescuing handicapped children. The Child Protection Department in the Romanian city of Arad partners with organizations like ours to ensure better care for the children. The city of Arad donated land for our special education school, appropriately called "Sunshine School," where the sounds of silence and hopelessness have been replaced by the sounds of laughter. These children are not tied to a bed - they walk, or roll in a wheelchair, into a beautiful classroom everyday and receive special education and care that rivals that of the best schools in the U.S. We welcome the cameras to come and see the good that is happening in Romania.

Sunshine School is entirely run and led by dedicated and trained Romanian teachers and administrators who care about abandoned children with disabilities. The school represents what can and is being done when government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), churches, and professionals come together to bring about change.

Romanian Ambassador Sorin Ducaru has used his voice on behalf of the most vulnerable. He has been a friend to American adoptive families, has hosted events, and has fostered cooperation between his government and U.S. NGOs. Mrs. Ducaru is going to lead a citywide Walk-a-Thon in Arad this fall to raise awareness and support for abandoned children with disabilities.

A nine-year old girl in Northern Virginia looked at the horrifying pictures in the Washington Post article with sober interest before she went off to school. Abandoned in Romania as an infant and suffering from cerebral palsy, she knew that could have been her. Instead she received loving care at a recuperative home called Darius House and attended Sunshine School. She then came to the U.S. for surgery and treatment that doesn’t often exist in poverty-stricken Romania. That was two years ago, and the family who loves her and who was moving through the adoption process when the ban was put in place is still waiting for the politicians to do what is right for her and all the other so-called “pipeline” children of Romania.

Emma Nicholson believes this handicapped child should go back to a Romanian institution for disabled children instead of being a beloved daughter of a family who has been trying to adopt her. It is time to stand up to such nonsense. It is time for Romania to lift the ban, to process the pipeline cases, and to hunt down and close any abusive institutions. And it’s time for everyone who was horrified by the sight of those suffering children on Nightline to lend their voices in aid of change.

Mary Ann Bell is the Executive Director of Romanian Christian Enterprises, an NGO working on behalf of abandoned children with special needs in Romania.