hope for the family

Fostering, Adoption and Reintegration

Hope for the Family (Romania) Trust has been working closely with Fundatia Speranta Familiei (FSF) in Oradea since it started in 1998. Recently its work has diminished and more support has been transferred to other organisations. Romanian Relief is providing a similar programme, mainly located in Tinca, addressing issues of abandonment, family support and reintegration, family planning, education and safe homes for special needs children.

Until recently, babies and children who were officially abandoned because they were left at the hospital were transferred to the state orphanage until they left at 18 years of age. They were often poorly educated with no programme to integrate them into society and were either moved into poor accommodation or learned to live rough. They are difficult to employ and became the nations 'street children'.

Sponsorship has supported staff to find foster homes for the babies and children who are abandoned at the hospitals. Abandoned babies have successfully been found Romanian foster families and in many cases the family has lovingly accepted the child and proceeded to legally adopt them into the family.

The Child Protection Agency is working to address the problem of abandonment and it is preferred to maintain a programme of reintegrating the child back into the biological family, although some fostering still takes place. It is necessary for the biological family to have water and electricity to receive a child back, but this alone is not enough to meet a child's social needs. Sponsorship enables financial aid to be provided in the form of food or bill payment and to help find work to encourage families to stay together and to gradually become independent over a period of time.