In early December, Lucian Schepers dusted off his adoption file one more time. He thumbed through the stack of yellowed papers and translated what he could with the help of Google, trying once more to piece together the puzzle of his early life in communist Romania.

This report highlights the recommendations and priorities that EU decision-makers and national governments can do to support the most vulnerable children and prevent widening inequalities. 

This study examined longitudinal data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care following exposure to severe psychosocial deprivation. The findings indicate that early investment in family care as an alternative to institutional care leads to sustained gains in cognitive ability.

This study, based in Romania, examined longitudinal data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care following exposure to severe psychosocial deprivation.

Under the auspices of the Ukraine Children’s Care Group, one of two learning events were held in July and September 2022. This event, "Addressing the need for foster care in the context of the Ukraine crisis", was held on September 7th in collaboration with HDPI. It focused on better understanding the foster care systems and services in Ukraine and neighbouring countries hosting Ukrainian refugee children, specifically Poland, Romania, and Moldova.

The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in child residential care and to explore predictors of accumulation and clustering patterns.

Institutional rearing negatively impacts the development of children's social skills and executive functions (EF). However, little is known about whether childhood social skills mediate the effects of the foster care intervention (FCG) and foster caregiving quality following early institutional rearing on EF and social skills in adolescence. Participants included abandoned children from Romanian institutions

Luiza Baloh left her home in Dnipro, central Ukraine, in March. Fleeing the constant sound of explosions, she and her five children came to the Czech Republic hoping to find refuge. Instead, they found themselves behind a barbed wire fence in a repurposed immigration detention center that was, she says, dirty and full of strangers, some of whom were aggressive towards her and her children.

In this review, the authors detail the extent to which early deprivation affects mental health during vulnerable developmental periods, the capacity of family-based care to facilitate recovery from early deprivation, and the mechanisms underpinning these effects spanning social–emotional, cognitive, stress, and neurobiological domains.

Romania’s minister of family Gabriela Firea announced the Government’s intention to close all orphanages and move children to family-style homes, a project that is almost two decades in the making.