In 1993, Juli Kamin Hall was devastated by the reports coming out of Romania about the tragic and horrific conditions of the orphaned and abandoned children. COCI was founded as a result (originally known as Children of the World), and our commitment to the children of Romania remains strong. Over the past 15 years, COCI has developed, funded and supported many programs in this challenged country and we are proud of the training and support we have provided to many local organizations working with these children. Our focus in Romania has been on children without families, children at risk of being abandoned and HIV+ children.
Through Casa Speranta and House of New Life, COCI has helped to prove a family-style model of care. In partnership with Holt International Children’s Services, we sponsored therapeutic and rehabilitative foster 
homes and have been the sole supporter of a shelter for young mothers at risk of abandoning their babies. In partnership with the HRH The Princess Margarita of Romania Foundation we brought art and music therapy to thousands of institutionalized children.
COCI trained Montessori teachers and supplied the first "official" Montessori classrooms in Romania. We initiated and supported several professional medical exchange programs with Romanian and US medical, dental and nutritionprofessionals. COCI brought healing touch to Romania, and nutritional models to children with HIV disease. Through ARAS we worked to prevent the vertical transmission of AIDS (from mother to child) and offered public education programs about SIDA (AIDS). At Burilla Mare and with Close To You, we provided critically needed Life Skills training for children who are reaching adult hood. We initiated the de-institutionalization round table conference and fostered the resulting partnerships into a network of advocates for the protection of children. COCI served on Senator Mary Landrieu’s taskforce on de-institutionalization using Romania as a model.
Today, the devastating institutions that once housed hundreds of thousands of innocent children are closed. Romania has adopted new policies for child protection, and these children do have a brighter future. There is still work to be done however as many of the institutionalized and street children of the 1990’s are becoming adults and leaving the system. COCI is committed to providing these children with opportunities to live life fully and to make their unique contribution.
In the 1990’s, the world learned that Romania had the highest population of pediatric HIV/AIDS in all of Europe. This devastating disease, brought on through shared needles and mini-blood transfusions, had such a stigma that children were literally tied up like animals or thrown out of their homes and left to die. Institutionalized children suffered even worse fates. During this time of deep tragedy, heros came forward. One such woman was Dr. Seli Sfartz.
In 1995, Dr. Sfartz, supported by the Medical Director of Iasi, created “Gulliver’s House,” an orphanage for children infected with the HIV virus. She found national and international funding for the orphanage and went on to manage it until 1999.
At the same time, it was recognized that this epidemic was not limited to the orphanages. There were many children living at home who were also HIV+, having been exposed to unsanitary needles and vitamin enriched mini blood transfusions in clinics and hospitals. These families, some Roma (gypsies), were often destitute, living in remote rural areas. There was a strong possibility that the HIV+ child would be abandoned.
Dr. Sfartz wanted to KEEP THEM HOME.To this end, she and other specialists set up the Gr. Toedorovici Foundation whose goals are to help HIV+ children and their families by providing them with staples and counseling; to prevent the infection of the HIV virus; and to educate the general population about the virus. One of the greatest problems facing the children who have survived is the discrimination they face from a fearful society.
Typical of the desperation of the families is an HIV+ sixteen year old boy, Nicu, who is easily mistaken for a seven year old because of his size. He is the second oldest of four siblings, all of whom live without parents in a dank, dark cinder block apartment building. There are four locks on 
the door to keep out a violent, alcoholic father. The mother works as a domestic in Italy and covers the rent of the apartment. Nicu’s oldest sister acts as the parent.
Fortunately, through a Romanian journalist, the work of these passionate individuals came to the attention of COCI . For three years, COCI, has been the sole support of this worthy program. Keep Them Home is able to:
- Serve destitute rural families by providing them with counseling, supplemental food, clothing, over the counter medications, and referrals when necessary (anti-virals are provided by the Romanian government);
- Educate the HIV+ young person and the family about the disease, especially its sexual implications;
- Concern itself with the integration of the HIV+ young person by going into the schools and educating the faculty and students about the nature of the disease;
Organize bus trips to educational destinations that include non-infected teens;
- Recruit volunteers to assist in the educational process and with the distribution of food, (currently 7 non-infected students, 4 HIV+ young people, and 3 parents of HIV + children);
- Release to the press and TV stations educational materials relating to the virus;
- Advocate on behalf of the infected young person when he/she is threatened with expulsion from school because of the disease, most recently intervening actively in two cases of serious breach of these rights;
Keep Them Home also intervened successfully in three cases where the psychological health of the HIV+ young person had deteriorated to the point that there were suicide attempts.
This fall, three HIV+ young people from Pascani, with encouragement and guidance from Keep Them Home, will attend the university - a major victory that can be contributed to the advance of the ant-viral drugs, the support of COCI, and above all, the determination of these three individuals to overcome physical challenges, poverty, and discrimination.
Keep Them Home and COCI remain focused on the support of these fragile family structures and the eventual transitioning of the HIV+ young person into a more enlightened society, where they may live life fully and make their unique contribution.
In Bucharest alone, it is estimated that there could be as many as 5,000 street children. These “street smart” children have slipped through the cracks of overwhelmed institutions and foster care systems, ending up on the streets begging for food and money, exposed to crime, drugs and prostitution.
COCI has partnered with St. John’s Residential Center, a Romanian NGO, to provide a haven for these children in a bucolic setting along the Arges River. St. John’s mission is to turn this land into a working 30 hectare farm where they will have the opportunity to re-establish their lives so that they are able to achieve optimal health, become self-supportive, and lead contributory lives.
As well as re-establishing physical and emotional health and well being, St John’s will:
- provide educational and work skills training in a warm setting that invites artistic and cultural expression, and
- promote trust, team work and self sufficiency by supplying agricultural, animal husbandry, and life skills training.
St. John’s and COCI are working side by side seeking funds for the development of this farm in an effort to achieve these objectives and to 
address the broad range of behavioral and academic problems typical of these children who have fended so long for themselves. At St. John’s they will be able to mend in an environment sensitive to the human soul where they will be provided opportunities to reach their potential and make their unique contribution.
Click here to view the COCI/Florescu Foundation video.
