A new life, full of love, for more and more children

BUCHAREST, June 2, 2021 - The number of adoptable children increased by 35 percent in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 4,249 on March 31, 2021, according to the National Authority for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Children and Adoptions (NARPDCA), presented on Wednesday, June 2, in a debate organized by NARPDCA and UNICEF. The increase was not only of the number of adoptable children, but also of the number of families certified for national adoption, reaching 3,087, 30% higher than in the first quarter of the previous year.

The debate, which brought together representatives of the authorities and UNICEF, adoptive families or those preparing to adopt, and members of the Children’s Board took place at the National Museum of the Village "Dimitrie Gusti", on the occasion of the National Day for Adoption.

Boys make up the largest number of adoptable children - 2,414, while 1,835 are girls. 1,319 children are under 6 years old (377 are between 0 and 2 years old, and 942 are between 3 and 6 years old), and 2,930 are over this age (2924 are between 7 and 13 years old, and 6 are between 14 and 17 years old).

The majority (3,390 children) are in the care of maternal assistants, 613 are in residential services, the rest being in the care of other families or individuals, with tutors or in placement with up to fourth degree relatives. Although it has increased significantly compared to previous years, the number of adoptable children is very small compared to the total number of children in the special protection system, which reaches 48,031, of which 36,159 are in the care of maternal assistants or in residential services.

The participants in the debate discussed the situation of "difficult-to-adopt children", which represent those children for whom, within nine months of the declaration of adoptability, a suitable family could not be identified or, even if it was identified, the steps leading to the completion of the adoption could not be followed. Most often, in this situation are children older than three years, children with a more delicate state of health, children who have high needs for development stimulation or children who have siblings with whom they can be adopted together.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Mrs. Raluca Turcan:

"Adoption is the most important form of protection of an abandoned child and is the only one that can give him the chance for harmonious development, in a family that loves him and that constantly supports him in fulfilling the dreams that any child has. Those who want to adopt a child expect an easy, short, less bureaucratic process. I also want to believe that all the authorities want a safe process that really provides the child with the best family to support him in life.

I was happy and supported the facilitation of the adoption law and the adoption process. From the moment we took office, together with Mrs. Cherecheș, the rules of implementation have been a priority for us. The level of expectation has increased, we have more and more children who can and must leave the protection system and we have more and more families who want to become adoptive families. There has also been an increase in the number of families who have registered for adoption, which means that 2020, a pandemic year, has produced a good thing, because all this documentation and preparation of the adoption file has led to a higher number of families who wanted to adopt”.

The President of the National Authority for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Children and Adoptions, Mrs. Florica Cherecheș:

"The adopted child is the child born from the heart, so it is said. I want to congratulate all the families in Romania who have adopted a child, who have given a new chance and a new life to an abandoned child and to encourage those who are thinking of adopting. We believe that the child's place is in the family and even if today we have 48,000 children in the protection system, we would like as many of these children as possible to reach a family, definitively, and how else than through adoption, if they cannot be reintegrated into the natural family. The number of adoptable children and adoptive families is still quite small. We have just over 4,200 adoptable children and 3,100 families who were attested to adopt. We want their number to increase and the world to understand that the legislation has changed, that we are with them and support any family that wants to adopt a child”.

Loredana Marin and Bodo Bogdan Marin (soloist of the band Proconsul), adoptive parents:

"What must predominate in the decision of those who want to adopt is love, because when you are in love, you kind of lose your mind, you are no longer afraid of anything. And when you fall in love with the children you want to adopt, your fears almost disappear. At that time our fears disappeared, we did not think that they are of Roma ethnicity, nor if we will be able to offer a future to the two boys, but we found our support from God and now we are in the moment when we can we say: we are happy parents.

I very much want the adoption law in Romania to be simplified, because it has been simplified lately, since we became parents (…) It is possible to reach a shorter waiting time, that the bureaucracy to be reduced”.

In addition to the Marin family, other adoptive parents were present at the debate, as well as people who are preparing to become adoptive parents.

"From the huge number of 100,000 children in institutions in 1990, we have reached about 14,000 by the end of 2020. So there is still a lot of work to be done to increase the number of children growing up in families, and adoptions are essential, especially in the case of children that are difficult to adopt, who are the subject of this debate. Growing up outside a family environment decreases children's chances of developing to the fullest, and research has shown that, for every three months a child under the age of three spends in an institution, their physical development is delayed by a month," said Pieter Bult, UNICEF Representative in Romania.

"The hardest skill is patience. It's hard to learn how to wait, but it's even harder to do this when other difficulties arise around you. Not knowing where you belong, waiting for an 'angel' to 'save' you, feeling every day as if no one wants you, no one loves you, no one cares about you, all while you are alone. Imagine a 10-year-old child who has to go through all these hardships because no one has adopted him yet. The joy on the faces of the newly adopted children is not 'I'm finally leaving here', but rather 'someone is finally wanting me', 'someone is finally loving me', 'I finally have a family' ", said Dragoș, 15 years old, from Bucharest, member of the Children's Board.

Promoting national adoption, along with other measures that promote the separation of the child from the family but also the development of support services for families exposed to various risks will be incorporated as priorities in the National Strategy for the Rights of the Child 2021-2027. This strategy, in the process of elaboration through the contribution of the relevant ministries, of the non-governmental organizations and last but not least of the children, will become the main framework for the use of the 5% allocation of the European Social Fund for Romania.