Long Term Sibling Foster Care

Mures County, Romania (NGO Holt Romania)

Beneficiaries: Sibling groups who were abandoned by their parents and raised in orphanages

The primary objective of this program, founded in 1999, was to remove older sibling groups (children aged 8-16) from orphanages and reunite them in long-term Romanian foster families and group homes. Older institutionalized children are highly unlikely candidates for adoption or reintegration with their own families, making this program a unique opportunity for brothers and sisters - those well beyond the typical adoptive age - to experience life in loving, supportive family groups. In some cases siblings were joyfully reunited after years of separation in different institutions.

Foster families and group home parents have provided the children with the emotional framework, daily living skills, and vocational skills that equip them with the skills to become independent members of society. The relationships nurtured in this program will continue long after our financial support has ended.

In 2002 this unique model program of long term sibling foster care was first replicated in Constanta County with funding from the European Union. Today, the concept of keeping siblings together in family care is the common model utilized in assisting children without parental care. The oldest child in the original Long Term Foster Care program has graduated from university. Three other youth are currently assisted in continuing higher education. The children in this program - once neglected and forgotten in institutions and separated from their siblings - have experienced a remarkable life change.