Fighting for Baby Maddie

In the debate over abortion in America, those seeking to save children's lives will often promote alternatives. "Don't abort. We'll help you raise your baby," we might say. "Or, if that's not an option, we'll help you find an adoptive family."

“Incredibly—in a country with one of the world’s highest abortion rates—there is no law that allows a mother to place her child voluntarily for adoption. ”

In Romania, sadly, one of those two choices is off the table. Incredibly—in a country with one of the world's highest abortion rates—there is no law that allows a mother to place her child voluntarily for adoption. The only way a child can be declared adoptable is if he or she is neglected, abused, or abandoned.

We recently ran up against this law for the umpteenth time, when a pregnant mother came to our ministry director for counseling. This young mother already had several small children and, though recently having professed faith in Christ, she was still working to escape an unhealthy relationship with her baby’s father. Though we often counsel and help families in these situations to stay together, she wasn't ready. She didn't want to abort, but she didn't feel able to parent her baby either. "Can you help me find an adoptive family?" she asked.

Our ministry director had to break the difficult news: in order for her baby to have a chance at adoption, her mother would have to abandon her in the maternity hospital. Understandably, this came as a shock. However, we also promised to do everything we could to get her baby out of the system and place her in a family.

When baby "Maddie" was born this May, her mother did opt to leave her at the hospital. Unfortunately, thought full-term, the baby was severely underweight, and doctors believed she had a mild form of hydrocephalus. Testing revealed the the condition was correctable, and our Romanian director began looking for a family for Maddie.

Just a few weeks ago, a family was found found through our connections at the Romania Without Orphans Alliance. The process is still ongoing, so please pray that God would superintend the details and unite Maddie with her new family quickly.

We rejoice that we were able to keep the promise to Maddie’s birth mother, and find her baby a good, loving family who shares her Christian faith. Join us in praising God, and in continuing to pray: for Maddie’s adoption process, for legal reforms, and for so many other babies still at risk.

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Pray for Our Kids by Name this July

July is a special month here at Romania Reborn: we’re celebrating our birthday with our annual matching gift challenge. For our prayer calendar this month, we’ve included specific prayer requests for children in our care. Though their names have been changed for privacy, we invite you to lift them up as individuals before the throne of grace. Download our July Prayer Calendar here.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

Our June 2020 Prayer Calendar is Here!

Prayer is a vital part of the work here at Romania Reborn. We invited you to download our June Prayer Calendar here. Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

Our May 2020 Prayer Calendar is Here!

Prayer is a vital part of the work here at Romania Reborn. We invited you to download our May Prayer Calendar here. Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

Ava: Home from the Hospital

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages throughout Romania, one baby girl is safe where she belongs: at home, with a family who loves her.

It could have been very different. “Ava” was born into poverty and neglect. Malnutrition sent her to the hospital multiple times during her first year of life. She was finally taken into custody by child protective services and would probably have been placed in a center, but our social workers learned of her case. We matched her with a waiting family, who took her home last fall.

Today, Ava is healing from her first year of neglect, gradually gaining strength, and bonding with her new family. She needs a corrective surgery, which is delayed due to the pandemic, but otherwise she is thriving.

Romanian news recently reported the story of ten newborn babies infected with COVID-19 by staff negligence at a maternity hospital. This underscores what we have already seen throughout two decades of ministry: systems and institutions are not where children belong. Every child needs, deserves, and belongs in a family.

We're so thankful Ava has one.

What you can do:

Pray for Ava. Ask God to help her have surgery soon, and heal from it well. Pray that her placement in her family can be made permanent with no difficulty, once Romania reopens. To join our email prayer team and get timely requests, click below.

Give toward our ministry. We have rescued more than 400 babies and children like Ava, placing them in forever families — but many more are waiting. Your one-time or recurring gift helps cover all the costs, which average around $4,000 per adoption. No Romanian parent pays anything — all costs are covered by our donors.

Gideon: Eagerly Awaiting Adoption

“Gideon” is the most sparkly five-year-old you could ever hope to meet. When I first met him last summer at a day camp for our foster and adopted kids, I fell in love with his boisterous, hilarious personality. He never sat still, and he never stopped hamming it up for the camera.

But when we told the story of the paralytic healed by Jesus, and talked about the various ways Jesus heals us, Gideon grew quiet. He lifted his shirt and showed the scar on his stomach—a testament to multiple surgeries he’s undergone to save his young life. Severely neglected and then abandoned as a baby, he nearly died from intestinal issues which were exacerbated by malnutrition.

But everything changed for Gideon when we placed him into a family. As all good parents do, they advocated for him, fought for him, and made sure he got the treatment he needed. Today he is experiencing healing in every way.

Gideon’s adoption is still in process. It was delayed first by the Romanian government, and now by the coronavirus outbreak. But the moment we can start working on his case again, we will. And with your help, we’ll also fight for the many other children still waiting to be healed in a family.

What you can do:

Pray for Gideon’s case to be finalized. Ask God to smooth out every detail and make his adoption permanent as soon as possible. To join our email prayer team and get timely requests, click below.

Give toward our ministry. Your one-time or recurring gift will help us finalize Gideon’s case and rescue more children like him from abandonment. No Romanian parent pays anything — all costs are covered by our donors.

Simon: Home Just in Time

In mid-March, we asked you to pray for “Simon,” a newborn baby who had been abandoned in the maternity hospital. Even though all non-emergency functions of the child welfare department had been shut down, our hope was to place Simon in a family under an emergency order.

We’re thrilled to report that the child welfare department did place Simon into a family, who hopes to eventually become his forever family. Although this placement didn’t happen through our foundation, our director’s advocacy made a difference in getting Simon into the arms of a mom and dad.

As the COVID-19 crisis grows more acute in Romania, we’re so thankful that Simon is out of the hospital, and in a home, where he belongs.

What you can do:

Praise God with us. Thank Him for answering our prayers and helping Simon find a mom and dad just in time. Thank God for the child welfare department who prioritized his needs, even in the midst of a crisis. Ask God to help Simon bond with his new family, grow healthy and strong, and eventually come to know the love of Christ. To join our email prayer team and get timely requests, click below.

Give toward our ministry. Your one-time or recurring gift will help us rescue children from abandonment and place them in families. No Romanian parent pays anything — all costs are covered by our donors.

Samuel: Quarantined in a Hospital

As the nation of Romania is locked down to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, little “Samuel” is spending his days in the hospital. Which is just the same place he has spent every day in his few months of life.

Born with Down syndrome and abandoned at birth, Samuel also suffers from heart defects. He’s already had one surgery, but fluid continues to collect in his heart and require draining. He likely needs a second surgery, but with the pandemic, everything is on hold.

Also on hold: Samuel’s placement in a family. We were able to match him with a wonderfully loving mother, who has already adopted multiple children from our ministry. (That’s her meeting Samuel in the video.) But she can’t take him home until he gets the surgery he needs, and he can’t get the surgery until the crisis passes. Visits are scarce, since Samuel’s would-be parents live in another region of Romania.

What you can do:

Pray daily for Samuel. Ask God to help this tiny child feel His presence in his hospital bed. Pray for comforters to come in the form of loving nurses and hospital staff. Thank God for the family who loves him already. Ask God to allow him to have a successful surgery soon, and join his new family. To join our email prayer team and get timely requests, click below.

Give toward our ministry. Your one-time or recurring gift will help us cover court fees and social worker hours to process children’s cases. No Romanian parent pays anything — all costs are covered by our donors.

Our April Prayer Calendar is Here!

Prayer is a vital part of the work here at Romania Reborn. We invited you to download our April Prayer Calendar here. Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

Nora: Quarantined in an Orphanage

Imagine if, instead of spending the next few weeks at home surrounded by family, you were locked inside a government institution, surrounded by miserable inmates and abusive staff.

It may sound like prison, but it applies equally to life under quarantine in a Romanian state orphanage. For 16-year-old Nora, this has been daily reality since Romania instituted a strict lockdown to combat coronavirus.

Nora wasn’t always in the orphanage. From age three to thirteen, she lived with a family in our private foster program. But when her beloved foster mother passed away from cancer, Nora had difficulty bonding with her second family. When the government seized our case files two years ago in a hostile move against NGOs, they placed Nora in an orphanage.

Since then, our ministry director, Corina, has never forgotten Nora, visiting her regularly in the orphanage and working to get her in a family again. But now that’s all on hold. For now, Nora clings to electronic communication with the outside world, messaging with Corina every day, but it’s barely enough. Deprived of anything outside the orphanage walls, Nora and her fellow residents are struggling to keep their spirits up.

What you can do:

Pray daily for Nora. Ask God to be her ever-present friend and comforter throughout these days of isolation. Ask God to strengthen her and protect her from emotionally abusive staff. Ask God to help us remove her from the institution once Romania gets back to work. To join our email prayer team and get timely requests, click below.

Give toward our ministry. After a successful lawsuit against the government, we’ve recently regained the ability to place children in families. Your one-time or recurring gift will help us remove children from institutions and systems and place them with moms and dads, where they belong.

Pray Daily This Month with our March Prayer Calendar

Prayer is a vital part of the work here at Romania Reborn. We invited you to download our March Prayer Calendar here. Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

Our February Daily Prayer Calendar is Here!

Prayer is a vital part of the work here at Romania Reborn. We invited you to download our February Prayer Calendar here. Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

Use our Prayer Calendar to Pray Daily This January

Prayer is a vital part of the work here at Romania Reborn. We invited you to download our January Prayer Calendar here. Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

The Most Meaningful Moment of 2019

What was your most memorable personal event in 2019? Jayme Metzgar shares about the evening in Oradea, Romania, that stands out most for her this year, and what it showed about RR's ministry.

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Merry Christmas video message

RR president Jayme Metzgar talks about the dark side of Christmas, and how you can help bring the light.

Links:

Christmas giving

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Sponsor a child

Read more about the legacy of communism on our blog or on The Federalist

December Prayer Calendar is Here!

Prayer is a vital part of the work here at Romania Reborn. We invited you to download our December Prayer Calendar here. Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

Join Us in Prayer This November!

Would you like to know how you can participate in the ministry of prayer for Romania Reborn? Download our November Prayer Calendar! Each day there is a new praise or prayer request for our ministry, our staff, and the children we serve.

Thank you for your ministry in prayer as we spend this month focusing on vulnerable children in Romania.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18

The Hard Work of Restoration

Romania Reborn President Jayme Metzgar traveled to Romania this August along with two of her daughters, to help our Romanian staff put on a day camp for our children. Jayme shares the following thoughts from that week.

It's Monday evening, the end of our first day in Oradea. We'd finished our first day of camp around 4:00 and spent the next few hours resting near open windows, waiting for the fierce heat of the day to subside. Around 7:00 we finally drive down into the city, intent on getting some supper and a tour of the renovated city center. Our Romanian ministry director, Corina Caba, is eager to show us how local government and the EU have teamed up to breathe new life into Oradea's Habsburg-era winter palaces.

We're sitting at supper in an (air-conditioned!) American-style sandwich place when we get our first interruption of the evening. A young man in his 20s with restless eyes and jerky movements comes in off the street and approaches Corina. She greets him like an old friend: "Did you lose my number? I haven't heard from you in a while." Discussion ensues about whether he wants or needs a sandwich. He thinks that's too expensive but will take some groceries if she doesn't mind. Corina tells him to wait until she's finished supper with her friends. He goes outside to wait but begins talking to himself, his arms gesticulating wildly.

"You see that? He's agitated because he has to wait," she observes to us. "Well, I hope he doesn't disturb someone."

"Did he grow up in the Casa de Copii?" I ask, referring to Romania's infamous Communist orphanages.

"How did you know?"

"Just a guess. He has the look."

"Yes. He shouldn't have been this way, but see what the institution did to him. Do you mind if I go ahead and buy him something? I'll be right back."

“As we walk through the streets with Corina, beggars and prostitutes approach her with the familiarity of long-time acquaintances, which of course is exactly what they are.”

Of course we don't mind. Corina returns 15 minutes later, and we head out the door to walk through the darkening streets of her hometown. Her pride in its restoration is obvious, as she tells us the history of each building and landmark.

But we would be interrupted at least three more times that evening by people whose lives seem rather beyond restoration this side of heaven. As we walk through the streets with Corina, beggars and prostitutes approach her with the familiarity of long-time acquaintances, which of course is exactly what they are.

The most memorable of these is a young man somewhere between 20 and 30, with his mind stuck at age four. He stands all of four feet tall, his form twisted to accommodate a severe hunchback. He's been on the streets begging all day, and he asks Corina if she can pay a taxi to drive him home. But Corina's out of cash. She stops and ponders, then turns to me.

"Do you mind if we take him to his home? What do you think?" she asks, concerned for our comfort level.

I assure her that we're happy to take him home. We walk toward Corina's car in the deepening dusk, and our diminutive friend slips between my two daughters, reaching a hand up to each. They take his hands, and he limps along between them like a happy child, grinning from ear to ear. "You rascal, you're just taking advantage, aren't you?" Corina asks, as he giggles with delight.

As we drive toward his home several miles away, Corina tells us in English that this young man, born severely deformed, spends his days begging to support his able-bodied mother and siblings. He's come all that way to the city center on foot this morning, and if we hadn't happened along, that's how he would have returned. He's being terribly used by those who should be protecting and supporting him, but it's still preferable to life in a state institution.

In Romanian, she's reviewing the days of the week with our passenger. "Today's Monday," he says. "Tomorrow's Tuesday, then Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday."

"Don't forget Friday!" Corina tells him, and he responds with an uproarious laugh. To us: "He can never remember Friday. I tell him over and over, but he forgets it every time." This recitation is repeated at least a half-dozen times until we arrive at his door. I quietly translate the childish conversation for my girls. It's just at the level of vocabulary where I can understand every word.

“I’ve had enough experience of ministry trips to know that it’s often the unscripted and unplanned moments that stick with us and change us the most. It occurs to me that this evening might be that moment for them.”

I'd hoped that taking my girls on this short visit to Romania would expand their horizons and open their eyes. I've had enough experience of ministry trips to know that it's often the unscripted and unplanned moments that stick with us and change us the most. It occurs to me that this evening might be that moment for them.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a sobering story about the judgment day, in which the King tells the righteous, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." The three of us are getting a front-row seat to what this looks like in real life. It's humble and messy. It's inconvenient. In many ways, it seems like a hopeless business. There's no long-term restoration here. Tomorrow these people will be hungry and need a ride home all over again.

But as we drive back up the hill toward the house through which hundreds of children have escaped this life and this fate -- children who are even now being tucked into bed by loving moms and dads -- it helps to be reminded why that normal life is worth fighting for. Even as she shows mercy day by day to those permanently damaged by abandonment and dysfunction, Corina's core work is indeed all about long-term restoration. By God's grace, what was once cracked and crumbling is slowly being made beautiful. It's hard, halting, and painful work -- infinitely more difficult than fixing up Oradea's downtown. But also infinitely more worthwhile.

July Matching Gift Challenge is On!

Give $1 for Today; Earn $1 for Tomorrow

Every July, we celebrate our "birthday" as an organization with a month-long giving challenge. Generous donors have pledged to match every donation given this month, up to $25,000. This means every gift you give in July—toward adoption, foster care, orphan advocacy, or simply where most needed—will be doubled!

Check this page every Monday for updates on our progress toward the $25,000 goal.

All gifts in July qualify for the matching funds. You can give right here: