House of Angels began as an emergency shelter caring for abandoned children from birth to three years of age, providing temporary placement for them until permanent solutions could be found in a true family setting, whether that be foster care, family reunification or adoption. Here, these children received medical services, nutritional meals, colorful rooms, comfortable cribs, hugs, stimulation, toys with time and opportunity for play, and lots and LOTS and LOTS of love.
How it all began:
Simona Stewart, after visiting an orphanage while in high school, decided to start Cara Bella Foundation in hopes of raising money to help children like she'd seen in the orphange. Then after seeing the large number of abandoned babies in the overcrowded hospitals in Dambovita county, Simona decided to create a shelter for these destitute children. The intent was to provide care that is as close to a home environment as possible, rather than the dormitory settings of the orphanage.
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Simona set her sights on an abandoned building in Gaesti, Romania near where she had grown up. It was an abandoned school that needed a great deal of work. But Simona could see beyond the rubble. She had a grand vision and could visualize this building being transformed into a comfortable place filled with happy faces, love and laughter. |
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She decided that she could get the building renovated with hopes of moving some of the abandoned children from the local hospitals to a new facility so that she could care for them herself. She couldn't bear the thought of these children sitting in cribs day after day with so little human interaction, rocking and patting themselves because there was no one else to rock or console them. |
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So after obtaining permission from the government to make use of the building in Dec 2001, renovations began. The renovation began on the first floor on the 7th of February, 2002. It took about 2 months and cost about $15,000. In search of sponsorship, Little Miracles International responded immediately, became one of our main sponsors and remains so today.
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An enormous amount of time, work, effort and commitment went into this project.
Watch the slideshow to see this incredible transformation!
Then on the 11th of April, 2002 House of Angels held its Grand Opening!
What an incredible day!
Because Child Protection requested that we take more children, we decided to extend to the 2nd floor.
These renovations started on February 1, 2004 and cost about $20,000. The opening day of the
second floor was on the 21st of May, 2004.
So Simona did indeed manage to get many of the abandoned children from the local hospitals moved into
House of Angels and the contrast between their faces in the hospitals and at House of Angels was astounding!
Lifeless eyes now exuded enthusiasm, vigor and curiosity...
... and the rooms in this once abandoned building were now filled
with the happy faces, love and laughter Simona envisioned!
Grand Re-Opening: September 2006
But in January 2005, Romania changed its child protection laws upon the insistence of the European Union. International adoption was halted and as of September of 2006 (when our last angel went to foster care) we were no longer allowed to care for the young abandoned children. These new laws require that all of the abandoned children be either sent to foster care or reintegrated with their birth families. This sounds good in theory but sometimes these situations are not good, healthy (and sometimes dangerous) situations for the children... but it is the law and is done regardless. Unfortantely, this is the sad reality.
It saddened us deeply that we were not allowed to continue caring for these precious children as so many received such good care at HoA... we loved them as our very own. But still eager to help children in need in whatever capacity was needed, Simona turned her focus to other children in our area who were also in desperate need of help. And in September of 2006 we had our grand re-opening... this time as an after-school facility and physical therapy center for some of the neediest school aged children in our area.
The happy faces, love and laughter have returned to these walls. And enthusiasm, vigor and curiosity have made their way to the eyes of the children we now serve. We are thrilled to be making a difference in the lives of children once again.
