I’ve always been aware that some children do not have such a fortunate upbringing. However, there is nothing I could have done to prepare myself for the shock of the Romanian Orphans upbringings.
Following Will Berry’s input on the physical child, in particular brain development, I decided to follow up his mention of Romanian orphans and read further into the topic.
To my shock, the first thing I came across was pages and pages of articles, all about the deprivation of these orphans. Many being documented articles on individual cases. It is seriously heartbreaking reading what these children went through. They were placed in state-run orphanages, many receiving only minutes of one to one care each day. Growing up in a small empty room, many being restrained to their beds. Understandably, this caused a lot of problems for these children. Most suffered deformities due to a lack of exercise. With a lack of social stimulation, they did not get the opportunity to develop properly. Some as old as teenagers could be mistaken for eight year olds, due to the fact social and emotional deprivation stunts growth. Many children lacked the ability to even walk properly due to being restrained in a crib staring at a blank ceiling for years. It is so clear to see the lack of development through the blank looks in the poor children eyes in the countless photographs online. Many children suffering from various disorders such as anxiety, depression and reactive attachment disorder, the most common being post-traumatic stress. It really says it all.
This issue within Romanian Orphanages prevailed after Nicolae Ceausescu, a Communist Dictator become President. He was worried about the ageing population, and decided to conquer this by banning contraception and abortions. He even passed a law stating women HAD to have five children, infertility was just not tolerated. Unfortunately, many parents could not afford to bring up all these children and had no choice other than to hand them over to the state. This put pressures on the orphanages which simply could not cope with the amount of orphans. It also caused a serious financial struggle, and due to a lack of equipment needles were shared and many blood supplies were contaminated. Due to this, there are still Romanian children today infected with H.I.V and AIDS, still forced to live without important medicines. It was not until Ceausescu was overthrown in 1989 that this disaster was revealed to the rest of the world.
Luckily due to this publicity, many Romanian orphans were then adopted. Rutter et al (2007) followed the lives of adopted Romanian orphans who were adopted by Western families, assessing their development. it is very interesting to find that even after years of neglect and no sensitive care, these children began to show signs of development, despite having attachment issues, especially with adults but also with peers. The findings also showed that children adopted before 6 months of age developed at the same rate as children adopted in Britain. This showed that once adopted, these children do have the opportunity to catch up, but unfortunately after 6 months of age the negative effects brought upon these children from the orphanages are more permanent.
The effects of being placed in Romanian orphanages are unbearable to think about, but I feel it is important to be aware of what went on and consider the findings of these reports. A lot of these children have a very low IQ after being left to amuse themselves. This just highlights to me how important it is for a child to experience care and social stimulation, especially in their earliest years. It also brings up the issue that not everyone comes from the same walk of life. Some children come from neglectful backgrounds, and we have to be aware of this as teachers. All children deserve an equal chance in life, and especially in education.
Image taken from: http://magazine.nd.edu/news/9873-traveling-mercies/
