UPDATE: Another orphanage successfully closed in Romania

We did it. Thanks to your donations, our team in Romania has completed the closure of an orphanage in Iași County, bringing the 40 children trapped inside back to family.

Messages of joy and accomplishment are coming in from our team in Romania, having just closed yet another orphanage confining wrongfully separated children.

Following a complex two-year process, our Romania team successfully and safely closed the Mihael Sadoveanu Orphanage in Iași County earlier this month. Thanks to your donations, our team ensured every single child living inside was brought back to family.

Over thirty years since the world was shocked by images of children in Romanian orphanages, there are now only seven orphanages left in Iași County. And with your support, we’re set to have them all closed by the end of 2024.

Who was in the orphanage?

The orphanage held 40 children and young adults. All of them girls. None of them actually orphans.

Sadly, 80% of children in orphanages around the world have living family members they could, and should, be growing up with.

Find out more about why children end up in orphanages here.

Instead, the majority of children in orphanages are exposed to violence, abuse and neglect – vulnerable to physical and psychological harm that lasts a lifetime.

Find out more about how orphanages harm children.

How was the orphanage closed?

A cooperation agreement to close the institution was signed with the local government of Iași County in 2022.

Thanks to this partnership, our team was able to assess the needs of the children In the orphanage, find their families, and support them to bring their children home. Where they belong.

We’re also providing monitoring, counselling and support at every step of the reintegration process.

“Every closure is different in terms of work and challenges, but the feeling in the end is the same: a great joy and accomplishment.”

Adrian Oros – Hope and Homes for Children Romania

Find out more about how we safely close orphanages and bring children back to family here.

Where have the children from the orphanage gone?

Following an extended period of research, planning, family tracing and safeguarding procedures, our team helped find safe homes for each of the 40 girls inside.

Thanks to your continued support, we were able to get all of them either back to their biological families, into foster families, or into independent living schemes for those over 18.

Thank you

Since 1994, we’ve been committed to shutting down orphanages and getting children inside back to family. None of this would be possible without your support. Thank you.

“When the institution was closed down, we were happy that all of those children have left behind this large institution and they were now in a new place – family. We were and are happy to be able to contribute to this new stage in their lives, it feels like we have accomplished something not only for now, but also for the future.”

Adrian Oros – Hope and Homes for Children Romania

That’s 40 young lives who get the chance to start again. To feel love. Family. Home.

What’s next?

Thanks to this success, our team in Romania is ready to up the ante. With the help of the local government, we’re now set to shut down the seven remaining orphanages in Iași County, bringing every child inside back to family.

But we need your help.

Our team in Romania is set to close the last remaining orphanages in Iași County by the end of 2024. Will you help us bring each and every one of the children stuck inside these institutions back to family? Donate today.