By Adele Rickerby
The tragedy of Romanian mother’s abandoning their babies.
According to data published on the website of the National Authority for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Adoption, (A.N.D.P.C.A.) two hundred and seventy six babies were abandoned by their mother’s in Maternity hospitals and other health facilities in the first nine months of 2022. Forty-eight less than the similar period in 2021. Of these, two hundred and twenty were left in Maternity wards, fifty-four in Pediatric wards, and two were left in another hospital ward. One hundred and three were returned to their families, two were placed with the extended family, fifteen with families/individuals and one hundred and thirty-four were placed with foster parents.
According to U.N.I.C.E.F Romania, (the United Nations Children’s Fund), one in ten pregnancies in Romania are teenage mothers and that poverty is one of a number of risk factors.
The following reports, Authored by; Andrea Neculau, Diana Negut, Mihai Vacaru and Cristina Vladu states that ”Teenage pregnancy in Romania is a complex social phenomenon”.
- UNICEF Romania County Reports on teenage mothers
Save the Children Romania reports that forty-five percent of the births registered among girls under the age of fifteen in the European Union, of which there are twenty-seven countries, are in Romania. This number is the highest in the European Union. Romania also ranks highest in the E.U. in terms of infant mortality, the main cause being premature births.
In collaboration with the O.M.V. Petrom Foundation, Save the Children Romania have launched the ”Baby Box” program, which aims to reduce infant mortality and support families immediately after birth.
https://www.salvaticopiii.ro/ce-facem/Sanatate/Cutia-bebelusului
According to statistics from the A.N.D.P.C.A. Website, the number of babies abandoned from January to December 2020, was four hundred and thirty-one. The numbers for 2023 are significantly lower.
You can find official statistics at the following link https://copii.gov.ro/1/date-statistice-copii-si-adoptii/ at category „Copii Părăsiti în Unitățile Sanitare”.
The Promise I Kept 