Win for Romania’s Orphans

Your support is changing young lives in Romania!
 
Amendments to Romania’s law concerning the protection of children’s rights have just been approved. The changes will reduce bureaucracy in the system and provide more opportunities for a family life for orphaned or abandoned children.
 
In Romania, an orphaned or abandoned child spends an average of 7.5 years in institutional care. The developmental, life-long impacts of children raised in orphanages and statistics on teens who age out of orphanages are heartbreaking.
 
With your support, AFFEO partners in Romania have worked tirelessly over the past five years to change this. They have been instrumental in shaping these amendments and advocated relentlessly for their passage.

As a result, these amendments will prevent children from languishing in orphanages and see thousands more children raised in safe and loving families each year  – impacting generations to come!

Here are some of the reforms you made possible:

1. Social workers will be allowed to pursue foster families for children outside of their respective county
2. The degree to which a child’s relatives are sought will be reduced from 4^th to 3^rd degree (great-great-grandparent to great-grandparent)
3. In cases of reintegration, social workers will maintain relationships with families for two years instead of six months and counseling is required
4. The transfer of a child from a family-style home to a residential facility will be prohibited
5. And several more reforms that will reduce bureaucracy and create more timely opportunities for children to find loving and stable families

By God’s steadfast faithfulness, the President of Romania approved these amendments last week!

We are rejoicing right along with our partners, and thank you for the direct hand you had in supporting this work!

It is truly miraculous to think of all the orphaned and vulnerable children who will now have the opportunity to experience the love of family.

Thank you for your dedication to caring for orphans and protecting their right to grow up in a safe and loving family!