ABANDONED CHILDREN STILL SUFFERING IN ROMANIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000536

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT. FOR EUR/NCE - WILLIAM SILKWORTH
STATE PASS TO AID

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2016
TAGS: CASC PGOV PHUM PREL RO
SUBJECT: ABANDONED CHILDREN STILL SUFFERING IN ROMANIA

BUCHAREST 00000536 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: CDA Mark Taplin for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: During an unannounced visit to a children's
hospital near Bucharest, Poloff observed first-hand the poor
conditions we believe continue to be a fact of life for many
of Romania's institutionalized children. Some of the twenty
children at the hospital exhibited signs of severe neglect,
malnutrition, and a lack of sufficient medical attention.
Local children's rights NGOs report similar conditions exist
throughout the country in maternity wards and children's
hospitals that have increasingly served as makeshift
orphanages because of Romania's ban on inter-country
adoptions. Nonetheless, the Romanian government and top EU
officials have trumpeted Romania's system for abandoned
children as a model for other countries in eastern and
central Europe. End Summary.

An Unannounced Visit ) "No Time to Clean Up"
--------------

2. (C) Poloff paid a visit March 23 to Victor Gomoiu
Children's Hospital (strictly protect) on the outskirts of
Bucharest, accompanied by an American pediatric nurse who
volunteers at the hospital as a caretaker and has helped
arrange medical surgery for severe cases. The nurse also
provides help to a U.S.-based NGO that provides financial
support and visits the children daily. The hospital maintains
cribs for about 20 orphaned children of various ages, in
addition to the children that are there for medical care. The
visiting nurse stated that the abandoned children, whose ages
range from 3 months to 8 years old, remain mostly inside
their cribs with little opportunity to run around or develop
their capacity to speak.


3. (C) Hospital staff noted that some of the abandoned babies
had arrived after they overstayed the 120-day limit now
imposed on the larger hospitals that the Romanian government
often shows visiting EU officials. Other babies are just
dropped off, leaving medical staff uncertain as to whether
the parents intend to return. Often, those abandoning the
children provide false identities and addresses, or have no
address to give. While previously babies were legally
declared "abandoned" after six months without contact from
their parents, the new EU-supported child protection law
enacted in January 2005 does not set a timeframe, leaving
many abandoned infants and children "un-adoptable" for years.
Even then, the nurse noted, the de facto ban on
international adoptions in the new law meant that many of the
children would never be adopted as there were not enough
prospective Romanian parents seeking to adopt. Several
children have been at the hospital for years because social
workers have been unable to find foster families willing to
take them.


4. (C) The nurse expressed further concern that the January
2005 child protection law places a "nearly total" emphasis on
the reunification of abandoned children with biological
families. She had observed first-hand social workers
attempting to reintegrate children from the hospital into
"grossly unstable" situations. In one case, social workers
pressed to return a two-year old girl to a biological mother
who continues to engage in prostitution. Each time the mother
refused to accept the girl, showing social workers the needle
marks on her arms from her heroin addiction. In a separate
case, a Roma mother has appeared five times in court to
refuse her rights to her biological son. Nonetheless, the
case has yet to be settled in favor of the American family
resident in Bucharest that has supported the boy for most of
his life.

Disabled and Roma Children the Most Vulnerable
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5. (C) The nurse noted that disabled abandoned children face
the greatest hardship. She pointed to two children in the
ward with cerebral palsy who demonstrated signs of
malnutrition. One was tied to her crib with a bed sheet
around her wrist. Her head was noticeably misshapen from
constantly lying on her back. The other, an eight-year-old
boy, was propped up and fastened to his crib in a sitting
position. His forearms were about the size of a quarter in
circumference and he kept his mouth wide open throughout the
visit. According to the nurse, overburdened hospital staff
sometimes miss his feedings, which take extensive time
because of his disability.


6. (C) The nurse added that Roma children make up a
disproportionately large percentage of the abandoned children
at Victor Gomoiu and other children's hospitals. She took
Poloff to the cribside of a two-and-a-half-year old Roma boy
with no disabilities who she said was usually tied down to

BUCHAREST 00000536 002.2 OF 002


prevent him from leaving the crib )- hospital staff "simply
don't have time" to care for him. Due to a lack of
attention, the boy suffered from what the nurse called a
"severe attachment disorder," throwing tantrums and hitting
his head violently against the crib. A year-and-half-old boy
nearby suffers near blindness from cataracts. The nurse and
the U.S. NGO had repeatedly asked hospital staff to carry out
surgery to address the problem. The nurse had arranged heart
surgery the previous week for a boy she met four years ago in
the hospital. The doctors told her not to pick him up since
they were just "waiting for him to die." The American NGO
told poloff that 13 abandoned children have died at the
hospital since 1999.

"Don't Pick Them Up -- They Will Just Cry Later"
-------------- ---

7. (C) The visit in the section with toddlers was cut short
after a doctor asked poloff not to pick the children up )
they would "just cry furiously" when put back in their cribs.
Poloff went to a separate room that housed three babies, but
has about 10 cribs for abandoned babies that come from
Bucharest's larger hospitals before they are placed in
"foster care." The American NGO is allowed to provide care
for the babies during certain hours, including feeding,
changing diapers, and providing toys. A three-month-old girl,
six-month-old boy, and one-year-old girl have all lived there
since they were newly born. None has been declared
"adoptable." The boy's brother previously spent three months
at the hospital until he contracted tuberculosis and was
moved to another hospital.


8. (C) The nurse, who had visited numerous hospitals and
small orphanages in Romania, stated that the poor conditions
at Victor Gomoiu are duplicated at numerous other child
welfare institutions. She characterized Romanian foster care
as only marginally better, noting that while she had met many
good-hearted foster parents, she had also met others in
Romania who "simply do it for the money." In a hurry to
please the European Commission, Romania had closed many of
its large orphanages. While officials heralded these
closures as progress, the nurse lamented that the new smaller
institutions and foster care group homes are harder for NGOs
to reach.


9. (C) Comment: Although the European Commission has
repeatedly commended Romania for improving its system of care
for abandoned and orphaned children, the conditions observed
during this unannounced visit to one hospital -- in addition
to reports post has received from multiple child welfare NGOs
and local officials -- indicate the situation is actually
worsening. Meanwhile, EU parliamentarian and former European
Parliament Rapporteur for Romania Emma Nicholson, a primary
architect of the current Romanian legislation, has pledged to
see the flawed approach adopted in other countries in the
region. Our contacts hope that new opposition within the
European Parliament to Romania's inter-country adoption ban
-- matched by other international efforts -- will reverse
damage done by the 2005 Child Protection law and put Romania
on a more balanced and responsible course in caring for these
vulnerable children. End Comment.

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