romanian orphan studies - institutionalisation

• institutionalisation - the effect of institutional care. the term can be applied widely to the effects of an institution, but our concern focuses specifically on how time spent in an institution such as an orphanage can affect the development of children. the possible effects include social, mental, and physical underdevelopment. some of these effects are irreversible
• orphan studies - these concern children placed in care because their parents cannot look after them. orphans are children whose parents have either died or have abandoned them
• institution - a place dedicated to a particular task such as looking after children awaiting adoption, or caring for the mentally ill, or looking after people in hospital
• where people live for a period of time as opposed to day care or outpatient care - people go home every day

  • such institutions had quite strict regimes and offered little emotional care, but today, they strive to avoid this especially where children are involved
  • means psychologists are no longer able to study deprivation - their research had reduced this problem
• in some countries, limited resources mean that it’s still not possible to offer much emotional care in institutions
• background:

  • 1966 - the romanian gov, under the dictator Ceausescu tried to boost Romania by encouraging parents to have large families and banning abortion
  • consequences - many babies couldn’t be cared for by their families so when the regime collapsed in 1989, the western world became aware of the plight of the orphans in institutional care in Romania
• background:

  • more than 100,000 orphans in 600 state run orphanages
  • spent their days alone in cribs w/ very little stimulation - cognitive / emotional
  • malnourished + uncared for, many adopted by western families