The Grand Rapids Press gives a glimpse into the problem of neglected children in Roumania's orphanages. Child welfare officials from the country, which remains closed to foreign adoption because of the dire conditions under which children were kept, traveled to Michigan to ways to move kids from institutions to foster care.
"At the time of the 1989 collapse of the communist regime, Romania's child welfare system warehoused approximately 170,000 children in orphanages. There were reports of children chained to beds and routinely raised without the affection and touching from adults necessary for normal development. As a result, many developed reactive-attachment disorder, a psychological condition that can produce aberrant or even violent behavior. At the time of the 1989 collapse of the communist regime, Romania's child welfare system warehoused approximately 170,000 children in orphanages. There were reports of children chained to beds and routinely raised without the affection and touching from adults necessary for normal development. As a result, many developed reactive-attachment disorder, a psychological condition that can produce aberrant or even violent behavior," writes Ted Roelofs.
That's some 170,000 people who must try to enter Roumanian society without the ability to give or receive the love they need. It's a true human and social disaster.
