59 Eastgate
North Newbald
York YO43 4SD

How the west heard of Romania's plight

After the regime of Ceausescu's communist dictatorship fell in December 1989, Romania opened its borders to the West. This opened the doors to the international media that reported the plight of the country that had fallen into economic disaster. Images were shown on TV of its many thousands of children who had been abandoned to orphanages and neuropsychiatric institutions (we have no exact figures but reports state between 100,000 - 300,000 in institutions at that time).

How did they come to live in such dire conditions?

In the 1980's just prior to Ceausescu's fall his aim was to free Romania of its world debt and proceeded to export all profitable items including the nation's resources of food. This led to widespread hardship for the people of the country for many years and still continues to impact on the country's economy. There were extreme food shortages across the country in all towns and cities, which caused great civil unrest.

Encouraging group interaction in the school courtyard.

BBC link - Click here for more information on the history of Siret Hospital.