"Romania's Got Talent" Star Shows the Power of Family

Tragically, many children like Lorelai are locked away in institutions.

by Jayme Metzgar

Last Friday, the TV show "Romania's Got Talent" featured a performance that has since gone viral all over the world. Fourteen-year-old Lorelai Moşneguţu, who was born without arms, sings and plays the piano with her feet in a performance that brings the whole room to tears. It is a moving example of the power of the human spirit to overcome obstacles.

But Lorelai's backstory is even more remarkable. Asked about her parents by the judges, Lorelai replies that "Mama Vio" is there with her. Intrigued, the judges inquire why she calls her mother "Mama Vio." Lorelai explains that she was abandoned at birth, and that she has been living with Mama Vio in placement since she was a baby. The judges then ask for Mama Vio to come out on stage and be recognized, before finally listening to Lorelai sing. Her stunning, joyful performance shows the difference a family can make in the life of an abandoned child, especially one with special needs.

What would happen to baby Lorelai today?

What many people may not realize is that in Romania today, an abandoned child like Lorelai would be at much higher risk for long-term institutionalization than a child without disabilities. Romanian law forbids abandoned children under age two from being placed in institutions, preferring that they go to foster families. However, the law makes an exception for children with handicaps. As a result, many babies with even minor physical deformities are placed into special needs institutions, where lack of love and individual care often give rise to long-term mental, physical, and emotional damage.

In our experience over two decades of working with abandoned children, this consigning of handicapped babies to a loveless fate happens far too often. In a child welfare system that is already failing to find families even for healthy children, it's convenient to find a reason to place children in institutions. But this is neither an acceptable nor a humane solution.

Here at Romania Reborn, our privately-funded Romanian social workers have worked to save children with disabilities from this fate, placing them into families. We would love to see family-based care become a priority throughout Romania, through legal reforms and increased partnerships with NGOs like ours. Unfortunately, Romanian child welfare authorities often view NGOs with suspicion rather than treating them as partners.

It's time to let Romania's compassion show

In watching the video of Lorelai's performance, it is clear that Romanians are compassionate, warm, and accepting people. Most Romanians do not realize how their government is handling the cases of children just like this one. Many beautiful souls like Lorelai are missing from Romanian society, because they are locked away in institutions that are unworthy of the Romanian people.

As Romania rightfully celebrates this young girl's inspiring performance, it should also renew its commitment to the welfare of children with disabilities. It would be wonderful to see more Romanian families follow "Mama Vio's" example in giving a home to a disabled child. Every child deserves, needs, and belongs in a family.

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How Abandonment Drives Child Trafficking

by Caleb Loomis

Editor’s Note: In recent years, Americans have become increasingly aware of the heinous reality of human trafficking and modern-day slavery. What many do not know is that this important issue is often linked to the plight of orphaned and abandoned children, who are significantly more vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.

The following article was written by Caleb Loomis, a Government major at Patrick Henry College with a concentration in International Politics and Policy. Last summer, Caleb served as an intern at Romania Reborn. We’re grateful for the many hours he invested in our ministry, including researching the connection between child abandonment and human trafficking. For more in-depth reading, source documents are linked.

Romanian children are surfacing throughout Europe as beggars, thieves, and prostitutes. The Romanian mafia (and other international criminal groups) recruit these children from the streets and proceed to exploit them for maximum profit.

The Roma ethnic population—often referred to as “gypsies”—are among Romania’s most vulnerable. Living on the streets, Romani children are an easy target for criminal networks. Uncared for by their birth parents, these children are left to protect themselves.

In 2001 Romania suspended international adoption, eventually banning it in 2004. Romani children are adversely impacted, because most Romanian families will not consider adopting a child of Romani background. The Roma are subject to acute discrimination, although the majority of abandoned children are Romani.

Child abandonment is so common that 70,000 Romania children are growing up in an institution, rather than a home. The lucky ones are abandoned at hospitals, where they may be adopted as infants. Once institutionalized, their chances of finding a family quickly fade.

Corina Caba, founder of Hope House Family Center in Oradea, believes that there is no substitute for a functional family. Children need the love and safety of a home. Romanian youth who have been denied a family—whether due to bereavement or abandonment—deserve to have a home. Caba is passionate about finding a permanent, caring family for every displaced child within her influence.

When interviewed, Caba expressed her concern over the sale and purchase of children. Some parents “rent” their babies to the Romanian mafia. The infants are drugged into passivity and used by professional beggars to conjure greater sympathy and donations. Caba also purports that Romanian children are smuggled abroad to beg for money.

Caba concedes that she is overwhelmed. The task of finding a home for Romanian youth is more than social services can handle, let alone one non-governmental organization (NGO). She pleads for Christians everywhere to pray. If only two families from every Romanian church extended their home to a child, the Romanian orphan crisis would subside.

Most of these children are not technically orphans, however. They have parents. In order to be eligible for adoption, social workers must find all of a child’s living relatives, and all must express a desire to have no relationship with the child. In the case of an abandoned child, this is no simple task. Consequently, less than 3% of children in Romania’s care are eligible for adoption.

Once the children turn two years old, they are transferred to state residence where children are seldom adopted. At age 18, they graduate from state residences and are afforded no national assistance. Poorly equipped to enter a competitive workforce, graduates will be forced to take unusual risks to survive. They are ripe for criminal exploitation.

Due to its geographical position between the East and the West, Romania acts as a gateway to Europe. The European Commission purports that Romanian children are smuggled into Italy, Spain, and Germany—where they are forced by their handlers to steal, beg, and prostitute themselves.

The US identifies Romania as a major supplier of forced labor in the 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report. The report not only highlights Romania’s failure to assist exploited children, but notes a distressing trend: “The prevalence of children in the victim population increased from 319 [in 2011] to 370 in 2012.” The report also includes this chilling finding: “Traffickers who recruit and exploit Romanian citizens are overwhelmingly Romanian themselves, typically seeking victims from the same ethnic group or within their own families.” (Emphasis added.)

The U.S. Embassy in Romania notes similar trends. Officials report that criminal groups have become increasingly sophisticated. Law enforcement is encountering new patterns, as Romanian children are being moved in greater numbers to more locations.

Since Romania’s admission to the EU in 2007, smuggling minors internationally has become easier. Border regulations have been reduced, making the illicit transport of human cargo possible. Bribery and the use of fake ID’s at the border is not uncommon or unsuccessful. Moreover, specialized law enforcement has all but vanished. As of 2009, the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons was defunded. Consequently, Romania’s children are being exploited in growing numbers.

David Batstone, co-founder of Not for Sale (an international anti-slavery group), reported to CNN that: “By and large, local police turn a blind eye to these crimes and social services for the victims are practically nonexistent.” While Romania officially prohibits the transportation of individuals for purposes of forced labor (Law No. 678/2001), it has poorly enforced this standard.

Aftercare programs, designed to re-integrate victims into society, are also underfunded. No government grants are allocated to NGOs. Privately-funded NGOs are still able to effectively serve victim populations, however. Not for Sale runs an extensive rehabilitation program without government grants. Similarly, Hope House is able to shelter abandoned children—while trying to place them in a permanent family—because of magnanimous donors through the U.S. nonprofit Romania Reborn. But NGOs like Not for Sale and Hope House are the anomaly.

Batstone concludes, “Whenever the poor and vulnerable do not have access to legal justice, they will be exploited.” Until Romania expedites its adoption laws and facilitates strong aftercare programs, Romanian youth will be exposed to unnecessary risks.

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