What is the Problem? Who Does it Impact?

Imagine living in a place where you are forced to have babies-not just one, but multiple.

Some Background Information    
In the 1960's through 1980's, Romania was under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, who was a communist ruler with the desire to make Romania prosper. Similar to the Nazi eugenics program, Ceausescu wanted to create a perfect race and to increase the population of the country. One of his bizarre plans was  to force every woman to have at least 5 children in order to populate Romania. In implementing his plan, he banned all abortions and contraceptives. He also forced women to have regular gynecological check-ups at their workplace. His plan drastically failed though, because many women still tried to have secret abortions-many of which failed. The result of the failed abortions were many disabled children, and the result of the mothers who did have healthy babies was unwanted children, leading to overcrowded "orphanages" (more like inhumane institutions).
      
The "orphanages" that these children were taken to were not orphanages at all (the children weren't even technically orphans), they were just institutions that children were locked into. These children were "closeted away from society, often malnourished and subjected to physical and even sexual abuse." The children were left alone with no one to properly care for them. The grave conditions of these institutions was finally revealed to the world in 1990, but shockingly enough, not many changes have been made.

 Orphanages Today   
Ever since the 1990 reveal of over 600 Romanian institutions for children, millions of European Union funds have been directed toward improving orphanages in Romania, yet the malnutrition and mistreatment of orphans still remains a major problem. Although conditions have slightly improved, many children are still living in inhumane environments. Just earlier this year, Tom Jarriel from ABC News visited Romanian orphanages and found shocking living conditions. Some of the conditions that persist are: toddlers caring for themselves with no adult supervision, children covered in blankets with their hands tied behind their backs, toddlers sitting in their own urine, and children tied to chairs by their shirtsleeves. Most children don't even have anywhere to fully lay down because orphanages are so crowded.

The ABC News article also spoke of an American woman, Michelle Kelly, who runs a private orphanage in Romania. She rescued a child named Zambo from starving to death when she found him in another Romanian facility weighing only 8 pounds at 3 years old. She took him under her care and helped him gain over 20 pounds in 3 months. So, as we can see, it is very possible to create orphanages that can feed children and help them be just as successful as those living normal lives.

Many orphans wait for the day they can finally leave the institutions that are not even fit for animals. At 18 years old, they are forced out of the orphanages and sent to fend for themselves. This sounds appealing because they are finally free, but when it comes down to it, they have freedom for nothing. These children continue to suffer their entire lives because after they leave the orphanages, they can't do anything with their lives because they have no skills. The majority of 18-year-olds who leave the institutions:

• are illiterate
  
• are untrained
• have no place to go
• earn a living by prostitution or begging
• take refuge in filthy tunnels

As you can see, these children are gravely suffering, and it's not only in their childhood while they are in orphanages. The inhumane living conditions of these orphanages affect these children their entire lives.
       



References:
-The Health of Children Adopted from Romania
from Orphan Nutrition
-Inhumane Living Conditions for Romania's Lost Generation
from ABC News
-Ceausecu's Children
from BBC News
-My Glimpse of Hell and the Pitiful Children who Have Been Betrayed
from The Telegraph