Romania's Orphanages, Continued

New York Times Editorial 5/14/06...............

When Nicolae Ceausescu was Romania's dictator, he outlawed contraception, the better to build the nation. Thousands of unwanted children were left to die in horrific giant orphanages. Once Communism ended, Romania began to dismantle these orphanages. But many children continue to be placed in smaller but still hellish institutions.

According to a report released recently by Mental Disability Rights International, a group based in the United States, Romania is still warehousing disabled children. Those who are providing care, though dedicated, are overwhelmed. At an institution in Timisoara, one nurse and three other staff members were giving round-the-clock care to 65 children. The staff could only keep up with feeding the children and changing diapers. Children did not leave their cribs for years, and sometimes were tied down. They did not cry, because crying did not bring a response. Instead, they sat silently. Investigators also looked at several adult psychiatric facilities that housed children in unspeakable conditions, with teenagers confined to cribs and wearing diapers.

Incredibly, foreign donors like the United States Agency for International Development, and especially the European Union, helped build this system, providing the money for 200 small new orphanages after Communism fell. Romania should have been taking children out of institutions and placing them with adoptive or foster families, with services like special schools and therapy. Parents of disabled children should also have the services they need to be able to care for their children at home.

Today, Romania acknowledges having 31,000 institutionalized children, and the real figure may be higher. A new law bans the placement of babies in institutions unless they are severely disabled. But children are classified as "severely disabled" when their problems are greater than social services can handle, even if their handicaps are minor. There are some good community programs, but they are small and limited.

Romania's prime minister has announced the creation of a task force to evaluate institutions for disabled children. This must be only a first step; it is time for Romania to bury this relic of its Communist past once and for all.