[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 97 (Monday, July 12, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S8259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  AID FOR RUSSIAN AND ROMANIAN ORPHANS

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, before the recess, with the help and 
support of my colleagues Mr. Helms, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. McConnell, I 
offered an amendment to Senate Bill 1234, which would provide some 
relief for the hundreds of thousands of orphans who find themselves 
confined to institutions and have no one to provide the love, affection 
and guidance that they so desperately need. Sadly, the disruption and 
extreme poverty which followed the end of the Cold War Era has had a 
devastating impact on the lives of the children in the Eastern block. 
In both Russia and Romania, it is the children, the future of 
democracy, who are struggling to survive. It is my hope that the funds 
designated by this amendment will allow the governments in each of 
these two countries to protect the health, safety and well being of 
their children and in doing so, build for a stronger and brighter 
tomorrow.
  Specifically, this amendment ensures that $2,000,000 of the funding 
appropriated for aid to Russia and the Independent States is used to 
further the innovative efforts of nongovernmental organizations, such 
as Christian World Adoption Agency, to provide vocational and 
professional training for those children who are about to ``age out'' 
of orphanages. When this body created Independent Living, it recognized 
that such training and support is essential to the future of the young 
adults who have, for whatever reason, grown up in an institution rather 
than in a family. With the help of help organizations like Christian 
World, these children can be given the tools they need to become 
confident and successful adults.
  Further, my amendment provides that $4,400,000 of the funds provided 
for aid to Eastern Europe and the Baltic States will be used to support 
the Romanian Department of Child Protection and their work to save the 
lives and improve health of the more than 100,000 Romanian children in 
orphanages. Just the other day, myself and several of my colleagues met 
with the present Secretary of the Department of Child Protection, Dr. 
Cristian Tabacaru. With great passion, Dr. Tabacaru painted for me a 
picture of the dire circumstances faced by his country's children. At 
present, Romania has the highest infant mortality rate in Europe. What 
is worse, is that 60% of these deaths are from preventable causes such 
as malnutrition and premature births.
  The Romanian Department of Child Protection is working desperately to 
save their most precious resource, their children. They have instituted 
programs that provide nutritional supplements to these children, they 
have developed their first ever in-home foster care program and are 
working to improve the services available for those with special needs. 
While they have made a great deal of progress in very little time, they 
need and deserve our help. This small amount of money will help them 
out of their present crisis and to build a child welfare system of 
which they can be proud.
  In closing, I want to again thank Mr. Helms, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. 
McConnell for their support of my amendment. As we continue to aid the 
children of this world, we can be confident that we are building the 
hope of a bright and wonderful future, a future in which few children 
will grow up without a family to call their own.

                          ____________________