Help autistic orphans in Romania get an education

Dear Friends,

We are thankful for you and the support you have given to our special kids. With your assistance, we are able to greet 2025 full of hope for the childrens' futures. You truly have made an impact on their lives!

One of the biggest frustrations of the foster parents/ parents of our children is that their kids are now required to be in some type of school by law BUT the schools have no special education teachers and offer no supportive services. Our little Matei Z, who lives in a rural village, is forced to attend kindergarten in a village school with just a few classrooms. Matei is non-verbal and has difficulty sitting for periods of time. It is difficut for him to interact with other children. Matei's mom has needed to attend school with him and sit at his side. She says he is not included in activities and does not understand what is happening in the classroom. There is no one at the impoverished school who knows how to help him. So, Matei attends but he does not learn and becomes increasingly upset. Our little twins Giulia and Ovidiu face a difficult situation. Ovidiu was accepted into his village school but Giulia was not, despite the newer laws. Similar to Matei, this school offered no suppport and wanted Ovidiu's mom to attend - which she could not with another child at home. 

The above situations don't make sense. But so many of our kids are in regular classrooms where they are unable participate and there is no paraprofessional even to assist. Instead, the children are marginalized by their peers and by teachers who say they don't know what to do with the kids and have no training. This is one of the reasons why Delia's Center for Special Needs Kids is vital to our children. We provide them with a nurturing environment to learn according to their needs in a 1:1 setting as well as in small groups. We provide the chance to socialize in their own way with other children.We provide speech therapy to help them learn to communicate and support academics. It takes time and patience but little by little we see the progress and so do parents. One of these parents is the mom our Teodora who brings her twice a week to our Center in place of going to school. They travel over an hour each way. Teodora is in second grade now and has been with us for five years!  She had no language ability at all when we met her. She is now speaking in sentences and has learned to read. Teodora is so proud of herself and we love to see her feel this way!  Her mom and her teacher are both so grateful that your support has brought about these changes for Teodora and changed her future!  I wish you could meet Teodora but photos will have to do!

Our CEO Laura Larkin is back in Barlad in February and we both will be there in late March/early April.
We can't wait to share more updates.

Dear Friends,

What a joy it was to be in Barlad during the last weeks in September! Our CEO, Laura Larkin, myself, and our newest Board member, Kyle Arney,  were thrilled to be back with our special kids and team. We were especially thrilled to be joined by another volunteer, Luisa, who has been by our side in helping the children since the early days when we first opened the doors to Delia's Center for Special Needs Kids. It was amazing to share the work of The Delia Foundation with Luisa and the kids were so happy to have her spend time reading, singing and dancing with them!  Our autistic children who are non-verbal and have a love of music could not wait to dance. It is always heartwarming as these children have a tough time interacting with their peers but when we turn on the music, the barriers melt away!

As the school year kicks off, we are so proud of kids who are now able to attend school. It has been slow but steady progress with our youngest learners whom we work so hard with in order to lay the foundation for them to have a chance at being in a mainstream school. Our speech and language therapist, Iuliana, continually works hard with them and we now have children who never spoke before who are now speaking a little and, importantly, learning to communicate their needs. Gabi, our young child educator, has made wonderful inroads in improving the behavior of many of the children. When they come to us, the level of frustration is often so high and families and foster families don't know how to help the kids regulate their behavior so these children literally only know how to communicate by screaming. With time, patience, and love, we have seen so many positive changes. Our oldest children with autism are teens (15 and 16-years old) and these girls have had to contend with stigmatism and isolation in the classroom, as well as teachers who don't know how to educate them according to their needs. Carmen, our social worker, focuses, on homework help, basic education and socialization activities. While these teens are in a classroom (one a special school for kids with severe disabilities and the other a high school for music and art), neither have basic math skills typical for elementary and beginning middle school students.

Below are some photos to share and yes, please notice our new amazing space!

As always, if you want to chat or have any questions, please email me at lauren@deliafoundation.org

Our Facebook page and instagram always have updates, videos and photos so please follow us if you are not already!

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Best,

Lauren Fishbach

U.S. Board President, Co-Founder, Delia's Center for Special Needs Kids

And special thank you from

Laura Larkin, CEO and Co-Founder

David Conway, Co-Founder and Trustee, Association of Delia's Friends UK