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As the National Romanian Adoptive Families Reunion came to a close on Saturday night, I watched with tears in my eyes as the children, ages two through 12, danced the joyous dances of their birth country, and listened as they sang "America, America, God shed His grace on Thee," I couldn't help but think about the hundreds of Romanian children who live in my heart, 5,000 miles away. Many have families unable to support them because of an unstable economy and a severe unemployment rate. Maybe someday they can go home again to their families. But there are many more, abandoned, with no family, who might have had a chance to live in loving homes. Now, that chance is gone. Now, their immediate future is consigned to living indefinitely in the institutions of Romania. Those institutions, supported by international humanitarian groups, as well as Romanian nonprofits in addition to the government funding they receive are now losing the support they counted on for their very existence. What price are the institutions now going to have to pay for poor choices being made by international media and politicians?
Their cries of "selling children, corruption, and children losing their bond with their birth country" are costing the children more than they can possibly understand. "Oh, how the human soul needs a HUG. But losing it now – what is the cost?" (Judy Broom - July 22, 2001).
With adoptions now closed in Romania, there is little money to continue financial support to the institutions where nonprofit organizations are still working. I care because my husband and I adopted a little girl from Romania. But there is one organization I know of still fighting for the children - Humanity United in Giving (HUG) Internationally. HUG has been working in Romania since February 1991. They take service teams three to four times a year for a 17 day work trip to orphanages and hospitals. HUG Internationally was created not for the purpose of facilitating adoptions but for giving physical and emotional nurturing, medical and educational training, and humanitarian aid, and, of course, giving hugs to these children in desperate need of a hug.
Judy Broom founded HUG after she saw the infamous 20/20 story in December 1990. Also, about that time, she saw a Christian TV program and was sent an article from "People" magazine regarding the dreadful situations in Romanian orphanages. Her question was, "Who will take care of the children that are never adopted? Not every child is cute, lovable, adorable, or even available for adoption but they all feel just the same inside. Who is going to care for them?"
Judy had just had her second back surgery and the doctors had certified her totally disabled. To add to the injury, fibromyalgia had set in. Today she still does most of her work from her bed "resting" unless she is speaking, campaigning for contributions, or helping stuff the envelopes that have to go out that day. Judy says it was God's way of showing her what she should do with her life. "God put me on my back, so the only way I could look was up," she adds laughingly.
In November 1997, the Romanian Adoption Committee (RAC) decided to change the adoption process and allow registered Romanian nonprofit foundations to be rewarded for their support by using a "point system." It was created in order to accomplish two things. First, it was going to bring money directly to the children in the orphanages and second, it would help provide financially for other social programs that were being created (i.e. foster homes, group homes, social workers, etc.) to support deinstitutionalization.
At that time, HUG Internationally had been working in Slatina (three hours west of Bucharest in Olt County) for about two years. In addition to the service teams providing hugs, smiles, educational training and humanitarian aid, HUG had extensively renovated the entire Leagane (the orphanage for children ages birth to three years). They were especially excited that other foundations would now help put additional money directly into the orphanage.
But when HUG returned to Romania in March 1998, they found nothing had changed. The "great concept," as it had been called, was just that – only a concept. In reality, much of the money that was supposed to directly benefit the children was channeled instead into administrative costs for the foundations, orphanages, and governmental agencies overseeing the programs.
In Slatina, two to three children per week were being adopted from the Leagan, and not one cent of the money had gone back to the orphanage to support the children still there. When asked directly about their financial involvement, Romanian nonprofit's replied that their high expenses were taking it all. Even though they received a minimum of $7,000 per adoption (most were a lot higher) from the international adoption agencies, they insisted it all went to high administrative overhead and inner country fees to facilitate the adoptions. When pushed for proof, they let HUG representatives know it was "none of their business and their contract was with the county officials, not HUG."
This is when HUG Romania was created.
HUG Internationally would still exist, but HUG Romania would be created, as a "sister" Romanian nonprofit organization to ensure money from international adoptions would go directly to the children in the institutions. With integrity, HUG Romania would prove that orphans could be adopted without bribes and after nominal administrative costs, the fee would be used to support the children.
HUG Internationally went to the Olt County Department of Child Protection and talked with the department head. Together, they signed a contract that guaranteed HUG Romania would donate a minimum of $3,000 per adoption and HUG would have the choice of where it was spent. They also challenged the local Department of Child Protection to have all the other foundations working in Olt County to do the same and that it could actually be easy. Even though the foundations met and had decided they could not survive donating $3,000 per child, HUG Romania started signing contracts with U.S. adoption agencies that charged the lowest fees ($14-16,000).
They were going forward, no matter what. Because of the new point system that had been created, it took HUG Romania awhile to build up points because they were a new organization. When HUG Internationally donated several containers filled with clothes, furniture, toys, milk and food to HUG Roma-nia to give to children in the institutions, they received enough points to receive a repartition for a child in order to facilitate their first international adoption (two national adoptions had already been facilitated at no charge by HUG Romania). When the first adoption was completed, not just $3,000 but $5,000 was donated to the Slatina orphanage! This became the norm and as programs started growing, HUG Romania joined in and created other social programs.
The goals of HUG Internationally (healthy, happy children, no propped bottles for feeding, clean floors to play on, enough food, nice clothes, plenty of toys, a safe and inviting environment, etc.) had been accomplished in three years in Slatina. In 1999, HUG Internationally began work in another orphanage in Braila. What a success thus far!
Baroness Emma Nicholson'sSocial programs that HUG Romania created and or supported (totally funded by international adoptions) include:
Day-Care Center - 16 children (ages seven to 12) from extremely poor families are given three hot meals per day and are provided with educators to help them with their after school studies.
Computers have been added to the facility. This helps with the deinstitutionalization of children and families in Slatina.
Transitional Group Home - HUG purchased two apartments in Balsi and renovated them by making it one large home for 14 girls (ages 16 and up). They are not able to live independently because, as young children, they had been improperly placed in orphanages for children with physical and emotional handicaps. This transitional home is helping them learn life skills so they can fit into society and support themselves without having to go into adult handicapped institutions, prostitution, or becoming street gang members.
Families At Risk - At a cost of only $25 per month per family, HUG Romania cared for 200 families in Olt County, buying food and items needed for the children's care. A social worker visits the families regularly. Without this assistance, these families would be forced to send their children to orphanages. The number of families served by HUG Romania has now dropped to 60, due to lack of funding.
Foster Families - HUG Romania financially supports 30 foster families in Slatina and 15 families in Braila. This again supports the deinstitutionalization programs recommended by the National Authority for Child Welfare (formerly the Dept. of Child Protection).
All these programs together, including the social workers, county directors, and Hug Romania employees who staff the day care and group home facilities in Olt County, only cost Hug Romania $84,000 per year. This funding came from the international adoption agencies.
Other programs for which HUG Internationally provides funds through grants to HUG Romania include:
Group Homes - In Rosiorri de Vede, HUG purchased three apartments (the first being purchased in 1991) and another six have been purchased by other foreign agencies during the last ten years. These renovated apartments, overseen by orphanage employees, are now being used to provide a family environment for older children. The Casa de Copii, orphanage for the older children in Rosiorri, has been closed. All of these children live either in group homes or with families now. The director at Rosiorri de Vede has asked HUG to help provide for two transitional homes-one for young adults attending the universities and another for girls who are working but still need to live in a supervised environment.
Bonici "Grandmother" Program - For only $50 per month per "grandmother," HUG hires 13 women to work four hours per day, five days per week, serving as surrogate grandmothers in four different institutions in Braila. They provide continuity in the children's lives, while also assuring additional staff support, physical and emotional nurturing, and educational support for the children in their care.
Hug Ladies - This program supports five ladies working full-time in the orphanage. Having a continuing presence there and applying what was taught through HUG Internationally service teams helps put the new philosophy into action faster.
Many of the state orphanages are being subsidized by nonprofits like HUG Internationally and HUG Romania. Neg-ative press media, along with Baroness Emma Nicholson's (European Union's representative for Romania) reports of government corruption, child trafficking, body organ sales, and fees up to $50,000 for international adoptions, were successful in shutting down adoptions. With it, they effectively have stopped much of the good done by nonprofits that continue to give back to the desperately needy children. There has been one change. The Department of Child Protection became the National Authority for Children's Welfare.
As of September 1, 2001, because there are no more adoptions, there will be no income for Hug Romania's programs in Slatina. With the closing of international adoptions, and since few adoptions have been completed since December 2000, all Hug Romania programs will have to stop unless they receive outside contributions. Gone will be a day care center, transitional group home, support for hundreds of families at risk and foster families in two counties. Without this support, families who have been receiving or were eligible for aid will, most likely, have to send their children to the orphanages because they cannot financially support them. Many children and families in Romania will suffer.
When the Hug Internationally service team left Romania in July, they saw again that even the basic necessities are often difficult for orphanages to supply. Hug International-ly and Hug Romania have periodically met these needs by providing milk, fresh fruit, and other basic food staples. Milk for all three orphanages in Braila (ages birth to three years) costs $400 a week. Without the financial support of international organizations (i.e. Hug Internationally) or Romanian nonprofits (i.e. Hug Romania), all children institutionalized will suffer. The cost will be higher than the Romanian government, the EU, Baroness Nicholson and the national media can even imagine, much less measure.
Yes, there was and is corruption in Romania in the fields of child welfare and government, just as there is in every country throughout the world. There are also good and honest nonprofits in Romania doing tremendous work. The ultimate price being paid is not only the loss for families waiting to love and care for the child they have been yearning and praying for, but also the hundreds, if not thousands, of children, who may have just lost their only chance to have someone love them as part of a family…because of the closing of adoptions in Romania. Many argue that international adoptions are too expensive. What price do we now put on the children's future? What is the cost they now must pay?
If you want to help continue the work of HUG Internationally and HUG Romania, please send your contributions to:
HUG Internationally, Inc.
1335 Cypress Dr.
Richardson, TX USA 75080
Visit HUG's Web site at www.huginternationally.org, or contact HUG at (972) 690-1484. Reservations are now being made for the 2001 and 2002 service team trips. All donations are tax-deductible.
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