Video EXCLUSIVE. The heartbreaking story of Lucian, a "little one" abandoned at birth and adopted by a Belgian family: "The pain I felt then, I want to forget"
The authorities in our country wanted to forget about the fate of children adopted abroad in the early 1990s. They assumed that they would all lead a fulfilled life, without the deprivations and traumas of Romanian orphanages at that time. When the children grew up and began to search for their roots, physical and psychological abuse, unhappiness and destinies broken by lovelessness came to light. Lucian was 7 years old when he was adopted by a Belgian family. His life was a torment and he sued the Romanian state for trafficking in minors and crimes against humanity. A new disturbing episode in the "Written in DNA" campaign.
Lucian is "a little boy", born into an absurd world in 1984. He was abandoned at birth and ended up in an orphanage in Mangalia. He vaguely remembers the gray and tormented days, but immediately after the Revolution, it seemed that everything would change. The visits of families from abroad who wanted to adopt children from the orphanages brought hope to the little ones' souls. The first vacation with those who would become his parents seemed almost a dream.
"I was sent on vacation with them. They already had 5 children, they were small then, I was even smaller. But I remember it was in Spain, in the Costa Brava," said Lucian Schepers (Voinea).
After just a few meetings with the family, his fate was decided. "Out of nowhere, I found myself at the airport, waiting for the plane, and I flew to the people who arranged the adoption ," said Lucian Schepers (Voinea).
From his early years, Lucian felt that he didn't belong there.
Then, when he was 7 years old, the ordeal began. Two of his brothers, biological children of the adoptive family, began to abuse him: physically and mentally.
"There was an incident when I was little, with two of his children. I was put separately. For them it was: my children, my blood, my interest. The pain I felt then, I want to forget. Let's say I felt the lack of love. They lived for their interest ," confessed Lucian Schepers (Voinea).
Lucian suspects that the family adopted him for money. In Belgium, the state aid is substantial, depending on the number of children.
When he became an adult, he decided to get justice: he had been illegally adopted and thrown into the world without anyone to answer to. "I started the trial in Belgium against my adoptive parents in 2017. In my adoption file you can see that I have multiple birth dates. The court in Belgium promised me: we will recognize and destroy the entire adoption file so that we can recover your name. And then, out of the blue, right out of the blue, they blocked everything. Someone in Belgium blocked everything ," said Lucian Schepers (Voinea).
The court ultimately ruled that it was a matter that had to be resolved within the family and only the king, in exceptional circumstances, could decide to withdraw the name. He realized he needed more evidence that he had been trafficked, and in 2021, he moved to Romania.
"I had to be strong, independent, make a lot of decisions on my own from a young age"
He works in IT and can work remotely. So he spends most of his time piecing together information about his life. But Romania did not welcome him with open arms. After countless trips to the authorities in Mangalia, Constanța, the 6th District City Hall and the Child Protection Authority, he was unable to obtain the original documents regarding his name, exact date of birth and biological parents. So he sued the Romanian state for trafficking in minors.
"We have an official document from an institution from that period in Romania that mentions 25 minors, including Lucian, who were sent during the summer vacation, for two months, to Belgium. Considering that the adoption was not made for the best interest of the child, but for other reasons, this would automatically constitute crimes against humanity in this case ," said Răzvan Pătrașcu, a lawyer.
"I'm working now just to make sure my lawyers get paid. That's all. Here and in Belgium. I'm not giving up, I'm almost there. They want to hide the child trafficking, that's for sure. It's not easy. I'm not trying to be like that, I have my job, I have my normal life and I have to be stable, but it's not easy. There's always a blockage from somewhere or from someone and I have to ask myself why is this happening? We're in 2025 ," said Lucian Schepers (Voinea).
Lucian just wants to know who he is and why the state has written his destiny the way it wanted. "I'm so stuck in this situation, just to get my documents back and then be able to breathe a sigh of relief. To know: this is my mother, this is my father, this is what happened," said Lucian Schepers (Voinea).
Until then, however, he remains lost among piles of files and documents that raise more questions than answers.