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Articol Introd in Studii Cult
Articol Introd in Studii Cult
The letters contain harrowing accounts by two sisters aged 17 and 16, who claimed they were raped by a member of their orphanages staff two years ago at a summer camp. The sisters, who were abandoned at an early age by their mother, confirmed the details last week. The accounts have helped to reopen a debate about inter-country adoption which has been pivotal to Romanias childcare policies. After the 1989 revolution, when the plight of an estimated 200,000 orphaned and abandoned children emerged, thousands of western families were eager to adopt. More than 600 Romanian children were taken by British families until the process was halted in 2001. The moratorium was urged by Baroness Nicholson, the Liberal Democrat MEP for southeast England, who insisted Romanias entry into the EU be linked to its treatment of children. Nicholson claimed foreign adoptions had created a lucrative black market trade in baby and child trafficking. Opponents denied many of her assertions and claimed the moratorium denied children a good home in the West. More than 1,000 children who had been approved for foreign adoption when the ban was introduced have been caught between the two camps, including those whose details have gone to Brussels. Those children interviewed by The Sunday Times said they were pleased that their stories were being told. One of the alleged rape victims said: It is true this is what happened to us. The letters incorporated details of how the children had been approved for adoption with families in Italy, France and the United States before the ban on foreign adoption was imposed. The one containing the rape victims account revealed that they had been selected six years ago for adoption by a family near Paris. When it was read to them by a child psychologist last week, both girls broke down and wept. The 16-year-old grasped the hand of her sister and whispered quietly: Paris . . . a family in France wanted us . . . this is the first we knew about this. She added: For the first time people outside Romania will know about us and how we have been kept prisoner when we wanted to leave. When Bogdan Hampu read how he had been identified for adoption with an American family, he smiled ruefully. Wow, America . . . I never knew. To think I could have been in America instead of here, incredible. The Brasov orphanage is owned by the countrys richest man, Ion Tiriac, the former tennis star. A former manager to Boris Becker, Tiriac is acknowledged as the countrys leading philanthropist. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on his part.