Barely into my teens, I remember my TV screen and those of my friends being flooded with images of emaciated children with shaven-heads tied to, and banging their heads against the bars of rusting cots. As Romania’s unwanted children stared out at the world through their pale, gaunt faces their huge eyes touched my heart.
From that point I knew I would go to Romania to work with the orphans. Somehow almost 25 years has passed but finally I have the opportunity to go. With my children being wisked off to Florida for two weeks with their Daddy I decided to take advantage of my brief freedom by booking my volunteering trip to Romania. Researching again the current situation in Romania I am disheartened to discover that, although there has been huge improvements made to the care of abandoned and orphaned children in Romania the situation remains concerning. Many children are raised in group homes which rely on the generosity of charity to provide money for clothes and toys and volunteers to stimulate the children and provide the care they need.
There are many older children living in medical institutions and group homes who are severely disabled due to the poor conditions they were exposed to in the old style orphanages. Many children who have left these group homes unprepared and unskilled live on the streets high on drugs begging and stealing for their next meal and fix.
I will be traveling to Romania in October 2012 to spend 2 weeks on an Inspire program supporting the work of the FutureSense Foundation overseas working with some of these children. Since qualifying as a social worker in 1988 I have experience of working with disabled children, children at risk of harm, looked after children and working with disadvantaged, drug and alcohol dependent families. I hope that my experiences will enable me to make a difference, however small, to the lives of some of these children.

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