Mariela Neagu’s Voices from the Silent Cradles: Life Histories of Romania’s Looked-After Children was first published by Policy Press in the UK.
Neagu, a research associate at the University of Oxford, describes her book as follows:
“In 1990, disturbing television footage emerged showing the inhumane conditions in which children in Romanian institutions were living, and viewers were surprised that the babies were silent. The so-called ‘Romanian orphans’ became subjects of several international research studies. In parallel, Romania had to reform its child protection system in order to become a member of the European Union.
This book sheds light on the lived experiences of these children, who had become adults by the time the country joined the EU. Uniquely, the book brings together the accounts of those who stayed in institutions, those who grew up in foster care and those who were adopted, both in Romania and internationally. Their narratives challenge stereotypes about these types of care.”
Now, Neagu’s book has been translated into Romanian and published with Cluj University Press. She says this was very important to her given that most of the forty people she interviewed were Romanian speakers, and therefore one of her most important target audiences will now be able to read the book in their native language.
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