This Romanian village has an unusual number of foster parents

There is a special village in Timis county. The Murani village where 40 locals have become professional maternal assistants.

The assistants’ role is to care for abandonded children and 68 children have basically been adopted. For people to become professional maternal assistants they need to go to a course and there are also certain conditions that need to be met. Then, these individuals are paid full time to care for children that were abandoned in orphanages.

One example is a young boy who was abandoned in a park in Timisoara when he was only three months. Rodica and Ioan Gligor have cared for him for the last 6 years and the shy 16 year old boy is now a student at a highschool in Timisoara. The family has cared for 7 boys for the last 18 years and mrs Gligor praised all of them, saying that they helped her in the kitchen and that she was like a mother to them. She also says that her children will always be welcome at her home, even when they go out and find a job and have a family of their own.

Some of the children finds jobs and move out and some of them return to their natural families after a while.

Another family, called Mateescu has raised 11 children and currently they are carring for five girls, ages 14-20. The couple decided that even if the government stops paying for the girl’s benefits, they will continue to help them and even build another addition to the house to accomodate them.

In Timis county there are currently 571 maternal assistants.

source: mediafax