The Smiles Foundation, Cihei Children's Centre

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Leeds, England registered UK Charity No.1087961
Kingsport, USA charitable non-profit # 86-0957704
Oradea, Romania registered Charity No.14839712

...making smiles in Romania

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Cihei Children’s Centre
HOME for Abandoned, Neglected and Abused Children

The History ….

Having first considered developing a building purchased in Cihei in January 2005, it was then decided to build a ‘purpose built’ facility on Smiles Land, close to the current Mission Centre. Total costs of construction have been £70,550/$127,000.

Building started in April 2005 and due to the wonderful support of so many, funding was raised and the facility opened within 12 months – April 2006.

April 2005

May 2005

June 2005

July 2005

August 2005

The need for the Cihei Children's Centre was highlighted by Mircea Toca, one of our Romanian trustees when he took the Chief Executive, Kevin Hoy to the Children’s hospital in Oradea, to show him the number of babies who had been abandoned by their parents and left at the hospital to be cared for. The number of abandoned babies was shocking, with 70+ Babies in the care of the under resourced hospital.

These babies had been abandoned by their parents largely due to economic pressures as the parents had no means to support their child. The baby will either have been taken to the hospital and left there, or been born there and left by the parents.

These babies were being cared for to the best of the hospital staff’s ability and resources, but Smiles realised that the care was substandard for these children who, once again, are innocent victims. When Smiles first went to the hospital, the babies’ were being changed 3 times per day, at set times throughout the day. It was a timetabled change, rather than based on need.

The babies were not getting enough nutrition in the hospital to help them to grow. They were left all day with little or no stimulation, a consequence of which was evident when one held a baby over a year old, who was trying to stand but did not have the strength in his/her legs due to lying in a cot all day.

The Smiles Foundation worked to improve this and employed 6 girls who assisted the hospital with better care for these children, aged birth through 3 years.

Smiles provided pampers, baby milk and more nutritious food as well as paying a monthly salary to each of the girls employed.

The aim of the Cihei Children's Centre was to try and have as many of these abandoned babies adopted in Romania, into Christian families and where that was not possible, provide a life with hope through Christian love and care within Smiles.

The home is able to care for up to 16 children at a time, and this will rotate as children become adopted or reunited with parents, with the possibility of up to 50 children per year being cared for through the Centre. The Smiles Foundation is working closely with Romanian officials and rigorous assessments will be carried out on the parents hoping to adopt or foster these children. \\\

‘Let the little children come to Me’ NIV – Matthew 19 v 14

Please help us to ‘Let them Come’

UK

SPONSOR NOW £30 a month

Other Donation

US

SPONSOR NOW $50 a month

Other Donation

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    Page last updated on 26/02/2009 01:55:38 PM
   by ADMIN1