Romania abandons its orphanage network

03 February 12

The Romanian Government’s pledge to create an orphanage-free childcare system by 2020 was bolstered this week with the closure of yet another harmful children’s institution.

Our Romania team officially closed the doors to the Sighet Institution, in Maramures at the end of January 2012. This project is part of an ambitious eight year partnership with the Romanian Government and Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) to move every child out of Romania’s remaining 170 orphanages (or institutions, as they are more commonly known in Eastern Europe).

The Sighet Institution warehoused 119 children and teenagers at its peak. They have all now been integrated back into society as part of a process known as Deinstitutionalisation (DI)  – the closure of institutions and development of alternative family-based care services.

We have been working with the Romanian Government since 1998. Having now closed 46 institutions, our work is recognised as best practice by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO). This is in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that every child has the right to live in a family.

The Sighet Institution closure has seen 63 teenagers supported to live independently; 22 children moved into Small Family Type Homes; six reunited with their birth families; and one moved into a foster family. The remaining 27 children are being cared for by the local authorities. Crucially, the project established local support services and trained childcare professionals to prevent further children from the Sighet area entering institutional care. The progress of all of the children moved out of Sighet will be strictly monitored.

Dr Delia Pop, our Director of Programmes, said: “Many families which struggle to cope place their children in Romania’s network of institutions with the mistaken idea that they might have a better life.

“In reality institutions like the one we’ve closed in Sighet are overcrowded, understaffed, clinical environments which work on regimented routines. They offer little care, attention or stimulation for a child.”

As part of its ambitious 2020 goal to end institutional care in Romania, Hope and Homes for Children has just completed a full audit of the country’s current childcare system - mapping out all the remaining institutions, assessing the remaining children’s needs and checking whether the existing regional services to prevent abandonment are effective.

Read more about our work in Romania or find out more about how we work.