AFTER THE RE-OPENING INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS

Article translated from Gandul Oct. 19, 2006

AFTER THE RE-OPENING INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS YOU WILL HAVE A HAPPY CHILDHOOD

by: Sinziana Ionescu

The visit of French Europarliamentarian Claire Gibault in Constanta began with a scandal. Accompanied by two filming teams from the French mass media, Gibault wanted to check on the conditions which were being offered to children in hospitals and orphanages in Constanta. From the very beginning, the attitude of her delegation created tensions in their hosts. At the first stop, the Emergency Hospital in Constanta, the Europarliamentarian manifested her unhappiness with the presence of Romanian journalists who disturbed her in their recording of events. Although he wished to visit the maternity section, she went to the pediatric section believing that she would find abandoned children there in filth. It was explained to her that these little patients come from needy families. They have health problems and their parents are not able to assure them of proper treatment. The head of the pediatric section, Dr. Valeria Stroe assured Gibault that the families do visit the children from time to time. The French Europarliamentarian posed with several children in her arms and spoke to one of them who was only a year and 3 months old saying to him in French, "After the opening of international adoptions, you will have a happy childhood."

In the maternity hospital, Gibault could not converse with the nursing children. She spoke, instead, with the head of the maternity section, Dr. Vlad Tica. After that, she shared her impressions with the press and also rebuked them for coming into the children's ward. She said, "I didn't expect that all of the press would come into the room out of respect for the children and the doctors." Noteworthy is the fact that she never wore a white gown.

After the visit to the hospital she made her way to some orphanages. At "Little Rotterdam" Gibault and her team commented that the visit seemed a little too much "by the book" and suspected that the Romanian authorities had orchestrated the whole visit. Petre Dinica declared, "They had the impression that we only showed them what we wanted them to see." At "Little Rotterdam" there are about 60 children who come from needy families. The French visitors accused the Romanians of hiding some of these children in order that they would not be seen. However, the students were in school and there were only pre-school children in the center. Dinica told the French that what they believed was absurd.

The atmosphere at the home of a foster mother who is raising a handicapped child as well as a visit to the "Horizon" family type home, only strengthened the conviction of the French that the Romanians were covering up the reality. "I don't see any smiles on their faces," declared Gibault. She was informed that along with the psychological and physical problems that these children have, they are also marked by disabilities and were scared by the hubbub created by her visit. Although the program was supposed to end at 12 noon, the visit of the French woman was prolonged without the knowledge of the Romanian officials.

At the "Antonio" orphanage, the employees refused to permit her access without the approval of the head of the Constanta CPS. When they arrived at the orphanage, Gibault said that the reason for her visit to the orphanage was an attempt to escape from the Romanian press.

Yesterday in Bucharest, Gibault asked forgiveness for her attitude, admitting in a press conference that it was due to being very nervous.

The official visit of Claire Gibault in Romania which began Monday, was marked by changes of plans at the last minute, unannounced visits at institutions where children are housed, violations of Romanian law, and disrespect for the Romanian authorities regarding their right to be informed.

Also present at the press conference on Wednesday, was Europarliamentarian Jean-Marie Cavada. He, along with Claire Gibault and Francoise de Combert, is the initiator of a petition for re-opening of international adoptions in Romania. He said that he has had discussions at the governmental level and has proposed constituting a commission regarding the cases of Romanian children whose international adoption had been requested before the stoppage of international adoptions. According to Cavada, these cases should be "reviewed". The government of Romania firmly rejected this request by the Europarliamentarians regarding modifying the law or reviewing the more than 1,000 requests for adoption of Romanian children by foreigners which were made before the stoppage of international adoptions. The head of the Romanian Adoption Authority, Theodora Bertzi, declared that a working group had been constituted at the governmental level and had analyzed each individual case and that all the families involved had received a response from her office. Bertzi specified that, "It should be understood that not even for one moment would I be in agreement with re-analyzing these cases."