Romania

Under Ceausescu’s Communist Government, Romanian women were encouraged to give birth to at least five children, so that Romania could build the strongest workforce in Europe. Due to extreme poverty, many families were unable to support this many children, especially those with mental and physical disabilities. They were persuaded to hand them over to severely under funded state institutions to be cared for by untrained staff.

The media showed state institutions to the world when Ceausescu’s Government fell and Romania opened to the west at the end of 1989. At the time there were approximately 200,000 children living in state institutions and special needs centres in Romania.

In 2000 the European Union (EU) put pressure on the government to improve its child protection record in preparation for joining the EU in 2007. Since then, there has been a move to improve conditions for children living in state care. Pressure from the EU led the Romanian government to rapidly close down state institutions. Many children were placed either back with their natural families or with foster families often without the social infrastructure in place.

The lack of social infrastructure has meant that not all natural or foster families were properly evaluated both before and during a child was placed under their care. In some cases children were subjected to serious abuse and neglect. This resulted in children running away from home, living rough on the streets and in the worst case taking their own lives.

The situation has now vastly improved within the care system. However, the current challenge is teenagers leaving this system.