Children brought up in orphanages hide past when grownups

The children who are raised in orphanages hide their past when they become adults for fear of being marginalized, confessed some of them. They said their fellows from integral families look at them with concern, even as if they are potential offenders. The skills they acquire in residential institutions do not prepare them for an independent life and do not encourage them to go on. Even those with a good standing at school seldom are admitted to universities. After leaving the boarding schools, most of the graduates apply to vocational schools either because they lack knowledge or are wrongly oriented. ”The directors and educators in residential institutions say they organize different seminars for children, tell them about the institutions where they can continue their studies, but the latest questionnaires filled out by ninth graders from several boarding schools show they do not know the difference between a high school, college and vocational school. Almost every second child asked what profession he wants to learn told us to look at them and tell them what job suits them,” Aliona Stepan project coordinator at the Children’s Rights Information and Documentation Center, has told Info-Prim Neo. There are cases when the entire class is enrolled at one education institution, even at the same faculty. The preferences and abilities of the children are not taken into account. “The orphans are regarded as potential offenders, vagrants and difficult persons. A young woman wanted to continue her studies at the College of Informatics in Chisinau, but the admission commission tried to convince her that she will not be able to study there. She had good grades, but was accepted to the college only after the social assistant intervened,” said Aliona Stepan. Alexandru Cioroi, who was brought up at the orphanage in Cupcini and now studies at the Academy of Music, Theater and Plastic Arts, said those who leave the residential institutions do not have a very good fate. They become either vagrants or convicts. “Nobody at the orphanage taught us how to make a career. If during many years they tell you that you will become an offender or a prostitute, you cannot become something else,” Alexandru Cioroi said in the report “Alone at the Gate of Orphanages” made within the campaign “Discrimination Does not Have Heart”. Olga, another young woman raised in orphanage, said that after she left the institution she decided to study at the Technological College because she could receive a monthly scholarship there and a place in the dorm. “I had to hide my past and identity in order not to be discriminated by my colleagues. Now I study at the Teacher Training University “Ion Creanga”. I have friends from orphanages who also study at universities. The orphans are not uneducated, delinquent and dependent on drugs as most of the people think,” she said. Svetlana Pavel, vice director on education matters of Boarding School No. 2, stated for Info-Prim Neo that the orphans have possibilities of continuing their studies either at vocational schools or colleges or even universities. The graduates of Boarding School No. 2 choose mainly vocational schools and study such occupations as cooks, hairdressers, builders and mechanics. “Many of them cannot find a job as the employers ask for experience of minimum a year. But they have to work somewhere in order to gain that experience. Some of them are luckier,” said Svetlana Pavel. Both Olga and Alexandru, who study at higher education institutions, said those who are raised in residential institutions are as capable as the children from integral families. The young persons only want to have enough information and chances of choosing the profession they want.