In an article in the New Republic by Jonathan Cohn entitled "The Two Year Window" the following paragraph caught my eye:
"Nelson had traveled to Romania to take part in a cutting-edge experiment. It was ten years after the fall of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, whose scheme for increasing the country's population through bans on birth control and abortion had filled state-run institutions with children their parents couldn't support. Images from the orphanages had prompted an outpouring of international aid and a rush from parents around the world to adopt the children. But ten years later, the new government remained convinced that the institutions were a good idea and was still warehousing at least 60,000 kids, some of them born after the old regime's fall, in facilities where many received almost no meaningful human interaction. With backing from the MacArthur Foundation, and help from a sympathetic Romanian official, Nelson and colleagues from Harvard, Tulane, and the University of Maryland prevailed upon the government to allow them to remove some of the children from the orphanages and place them with foster families. Then, the researchers would observe how they fared over time in comparison with the children still in the orphanages. They would also track a third set of children, who were with their original parents, as a control group."
We are living in the global age of warehoused and neglected children–from the refugee camps of the middle east to Africa to the juvee halls of the United States, children are being held and poorly housed in conditions that would make Charles Dickens throw up. Yes, it matters what you call them. How about calling them an "underserved population" as the University of Washington's institute on medical ethics proposes?
Accordingly the underserved are "individuals or populations who are disadvantaged because of inability to pay, lack of access to comprehensive health care, or other disparities for reasons of race, religion, language group, or social status."
At the website of the School for Life, Romania and the Scoala Pentru Viata, you can read the following:
"We are based in the town of Siret in northern Romania on the border of Ukraine in the county of Suceava. It is an area of high unemployment with a diverse ethnic community, and a population of approx. 9,300. School For Life work with orphaned young adults, who previously lived in the neuropsychiatric hospital for 510 children in Siret, at its height in 1984 housing 1310 children.
Due to their childhood experiences of privation, neglect and abuse, lack of parental nurturing, inadequate nutrition and stimulation many have developed severe developmental deficits and delays. Many failed to thrive in these conditions inhibiting their healthy development and ability to communicate, socialise and survive outside of institution life in the wider community. The majority will now need support for the rest of their lives.
120 of these now young adults are living in an adult psychiatric hospital in Siret. School For Life and Scoala Pentru Viata aim to support these young adults by providing new experiences and opportunities, in their relations with others and in their wider environment. This is through special needs education / activity, trips in the community, life skill and employment support and supported housing."
Or this:
"I love my work here, teaching the lads and working around the house. I love teaching them sport and how to look after animals, and the colour games and how to draw. I am very happy to help the students from the hospital, they are just like me, there is very little difference. I feel confident about the future and what I'm doing and feel that I'll be able to do whatever I choose to."Lenuta, aged 26
"I like the girls and enjoy talking with them and helping them. If they are unable to come one day they will stay in their rooms and cry. I am teaching myself to look after myself. I have taught the students how to look after the garden and they love it… when they grow up they will have their own house and will need to look after themselves. I like everything here, I can't lie, I like it all!"Rodika, aged 25
"Lenuta and Rodika both grew up in the neuropsychiatric hospital for 510 children in Siret. They now live in School For Life supported housing and work as teaching assistants at the school."
Dr. Charles Nelson's work (the subject of the New Republic piece referenced above) has promoted the idea that foster care is not only possible but preferable–an idea we take for granted in the U.S. but which until recently has been all too often dismissed among Romanians. You can learn more about his work here.
Planet of the Blind 