The haunting pictures of Romanian Orphans in their cribs, wincing in pain from AIDS and neglect, are shown throughout a recent article in a UK online news publication. Partly as a result of a ban on birth control and abortions during the communist rule of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania, children were abandoned at orphanages throughout the country to suffer neglect and abuse – often times being drugged or limited to movement only in the confines of their bed. Beginning in 2000, researchers followed 136 of the more than 100,000 orphans to document the extent of their physical, emotional, mental, academic and social development, or lack there of. In particular, the study’s focus on the brain’s white matter, which helps in the progression of one’s mental ability, showed that “the structure of the white matter was severely damaged in children who had been neglected.” “However the researchers discovered that those children fortunate enough to find loving foster homes were able to regrow the missing connections and restore lost function.” This study, while incredibly unfortunate in its origin, adds to the imperative on societies across the globe to emphasize the importance of early interventions and positive experiences with the foster care system.
Comments (0)