Duchess Of York Uncovers Terrible Condition Of Romanian Orphanages

The documentary "Duchess and Daughters – Their Secret Mission" presents the duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, together with her daughters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, during their visit to orphanages fostering children with disabilities in Turkey and Romania, The Independent reported.

The documentary was made with the collaboration of journalist Chris Rogers.

The Duchess noticed Romania’s orphanages were in a better condition than before the fall of the Ceausescu regime, in 1989. The film showed children in Marin Pozan orphanage tied up to their beds as, apparently, law in Romania allows for this action to be taken when the child is a danger to himself or to other minors, based on adequate medical surveillance, the paper wrote.

Children had toys to play with and proper apparatus, and the rooms were freshly varnished.

However, Romania’s problem is represented not by the institutions, but by the mentality according to which a handicap is something shameful, that must be hidden. This mentality is hard to change, even for a princess.

In Istanbul, Sarah Ferguson and Eugenie, her youngest daughter, visited homes using their own names and trusting that they would not be recognized. They found clean, but overcrowded rooms, and the staff number was insufficient. Children with mental disabilities were left unsupervised.

The duchess found children tethered to benches to prevent them from running away. One boy was held in a box that had been built especially for him, according to the authorities. One of the children was found eating straps of his diapers. Many of the children reacted to attention with a desperate delight.