Views From Home

It is weird to be home and see children, the same ages as some of ours in Romania, but whom have grown up being cared for in families and whom are mostly developmentally on target. I think I view the situation of the Tutova Clinic as more upsetting now that we are home. At least while we were there we knew that we were doing everything we could for them, but now we don't know how they are doing, or where they will end up. It is weird to think about the things that we thought were so normal while we were there, but in America are strange. Like the fact that kids in the clinic, of all ages, are in diapers, they won't get potty trained until they get a family. Or that they spend about 19 hours a day in a crib without any toys. And even simple things like not changing their clothes or bathing them more than once or twice a week, or brushing the older ones teeth. The nurses and aides do everything that they can, but they are technically maintenance staff so they have lots of responsibilities other than playing with and cuddling with the children. One thing that we noticed about the women working at the clinic is that they truly love the children, they just don't have enough time in their day to spend enough time with the kids. I hope to go back next year to see the kids, either with a group from school, or just a couple friends. I think that it will be nice to go back and see how the kids have advanced from when we were there this March.