Fact sheet

The impact Heart of a Child’s programs have made on the lives of children in need can scarcely be measured in strict facts and figures. The remarkable, often heartbreaking, stories of the children whose lives were influenced by our foundation provide the core reasons why we feel so passionately about our mission.

However we also recognize that these statistics can give deeper insight into the breadth and depth of our program’s effects.

At present, Heart of a Child Foundation offers direct assistance to:

Over 400 children from poor families and at-risk situations by providing:

• direct material assistance including information and counseling for both the child and family;
• support for scholarships to attend high school;
• stable educational assistance and support activities with trained staff (e.g., homework and tutoring at the Heart of a Child Daycenter in Galati)

12 children who were rescued from institutions or abandoned by their families by providing:

• full care and support for each child in one of our two foster-family homes in Galati

Over 90 children and youth with disabilities or HIV/AIDS through

• skills for life training, educational programs, art therapy and rehabilitation in our education day center in Galati and the village of Cudalbi
• full-time care for youth with disabilities in two Heart of a Child operated apartments;
• material help for children and youth with HIV/AIDS living either their natural or foster families
• identification of potential foster families for children with disabilities

Here are some brief facts about the Heart of Child’s programming since 1996:

• 25 HIV/AIDS children saved from the Local Hospital for Infectious Diseases
• 2 homes for over 30 children infected with HIV/AIDS and/or abandoned by their families
• 50 abandoned children cared for in Heart of a Child’s “Forget Me Not House”
• 15 street children cared for in a joint day center with the Word Made Flesh organization
• 57 children placed with their natural or foster care families
• 40 at-risk youth cared for daily in our day center
• 112 youth removed from governmental placement centers and provided job and life skills training
• 8 abandoned children cared for in the foundations’ family-style Ana Maria House
• 770 children impacted by the distance learning program to promote continuing education for at-risk youth.
• 29 children and youth from Galati participating in the continuing studies program
• 42 children with severe disabilities integrated into foster care families
• 2 apartments opened for 10 youth with severe disabilities to remove them from government placement centers; the first apartments of their kind in Romania
• 15 children helped with daily programming at the Andiana Kindergarten for children with disabilities in Cudalbi
• 14,000 students influenced by programming designed and implemented by Heart of a Child staff for use in local school systems regarding HIV/AIDS prevention education including translation of a documentary into Romanian
• 500 social services professionals received training in Galati and 14 surrounding villages regarding social services