Prevention of Abandonment 

One might have hoped that so many years after Ceausescu and his pro-natal policies, child abandonment would no longer be a significant problem. Sadly it was. FICR's research in 2009 found however that 1.8% of newborns were still being abandoned on maternity wards - many facing the prospect of a lifetime in the care system.

Once again we were unwilling to accept that this was okay, so in collaboration with Bucharest sector 6 child protection authority we piloted a project targeting expectant mothers admitted to “Panait Sarbu” Maternity Hospital and those with infants aged 0-6 months who had been born there.

After demonstrating successful outcomes we expanded the project, opening it to referrals from child protection authorities and hospitals across Bucharest as well as word of mouth often from current participants to others in need. Thus our abandonment prevention project was launched.