Q&A: Romanian Orphanages

Many people have asked me what ever happened to Romania’s orphanages that received international attention in the early 1990s for their horrific conditions.

Q: How did Romania get so many orphans?

A: First of all, it is important to mention that most of the children in the orphanages were not orphans at all, but rather abandoned children. The 1980s was a difficult decade for the Romanian people. It was during this decade that the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu took drastic measures to pay off the country’s debt which included imposing harsh economic restrictions on the average Romanian family. At the same time, Ceaușescu wanted Romanian families to have many children in order to have a large enough future work force for the country’s growing economy. If a family could not care for their children, the state promised to raise the future workers in the state-run orphanages.


Q: What happened to the abandoned children and orphanages?
A: In 1990, less than a year after the December 1989 revolution which brought an end to communism in Romania, the American newsmagazine 20/20 shocked the country with footage documenting the appalling conditions of Romania’s orphanages. Thousands of people came to Romania to work in the orphanages or to adopt abandoned children. The problem of abandoned children, however, didn’t just go away with the end of communism and this rush of international aid. In fact, the 1990s brought a new set of challenges. Families facing poor economic conditions continued to abandon their children as they had during the communist era. As both the number of abandoned children and the number of potential foreign adopting families increased, so did the corruption in the international adoption process. Romanians wishing to profit from the situation became rich by selling children (sometimes their own children) to people in the West. All of this corruption also led to human trafficking, as the desire to get rich outweighed the concern for the child’s future.

As Romania prepared to enter the European Union (EU), much attention was given to the condition of orphanages and corruption in the international adoption process. The EU pressured Romania to close all international adoptions due to the corruption in the system, a position many in the US have criticized. In addition to closing international adoptions, steps were made to improve the conditions of state-run orphanages and to decrease the number of children in the orphanages by either placing them in foster care with Romanian families or by reintegrating the children with their birth families. Although there is still room for improvement in Romania’s orphanages, the conditions today are much better than they were 20 years ago.

In 2001, as a RSP student, I worked with
abandoned children

Q: What has the Church of the Nazarene done concerning the orphanages? 
A: The first group of Nazarenes to enter Romania were students from Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) who spent their January term in 1992 caring for abandoned children in a Romanian orphanage. As Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) entered Romania later in 1992, working in the orphanages in Bucharest was a primary focus. In the following years, the Romanian Studies Program (established by ENC in 1994) brought American college students to Romania for a semester abroad which included working with abandoned children – first in Bucharest, then in Sighisoara. Students and volunteers ministered daily to the abandoned children by changing diapers and providing them with clean clothing, stimulating them by playing with them outside of their cribs, and improving their overall conditions with projects like painting murals on the walls and building an outdoor playground. Others worked with teenage girls who had grown up in an orphanage and were quickly approaching high school graduation when they would be forced to enter into the world outside the orphanage. Without a sense of belonging, these girls could easily find themselves in abusive relationships, poverty, or prostitution. Working with these girls included preparing them with basic life skills such as cooking and financial management to make the transition easier.

Feeding impoverished children in Tigmandru

Q: What is the Church of the Nazarene doing today to work with abandoned children?
A: A lot has changed in the past 20 years. No longer is our focus working with the abandoned children in the orphanages (the one in Sighisoara closed several years ago) but rather working to prevent the circumstances that lead families to abandon their children. Veritas (the NCM organization in Sighisoara) provides holistic support for poor families that could be considered “at risk” for abandoning children. NCM Child Sponsorship helps provide food and activities for the Veritas Child Development Center. (Click here to  watch a 3-minute video about Veritas and NCM Child Sponsorship.) Friends of Veritas provide support for a handful of families with foster children. Another ministry is that the Church of the Nazarene in the village of Tigmandru conducts a weekly meeting for mothers with young children. These young mothers, often unwed teenagers, are taught how to raise children in healthy and loving families. The Tigmandru Church is also looking for ways to provide sustainable employment for parents to be able to provide for their families. These and other ministries are focused on developing the whole family by improving their spiritual, social, and physical conditions.