Children in Distress Romania Foundation

The Foundation was founded in 1990 by Reverend Dr. John Walmsley. In the same year, supported by members of the St. Lawrence Parish in Barkingside, United Kingdom, the Reverend proceeded to build the Saint Lawrence Hospital in Cernavoda, Romania, a facility dedicated to children with HIV-AIDS.

Starting with 1991, under the naming of “Helping Children in Romania” Association (RCA), several projects were developed in support of children with HIV/AIDS, abandoned in hospitals and orphanages.

In 1999, the “Saint Margaret’s” Hospice was inaugurated in Bucharest. Here palliative care services are provided to children who suffer from chronic neurological or multiple handicaps, children who would have hardly survived in a different environment.

In 2002, CID opened the “Saint Michael’s” Centre in Bucharest – a pilot project dedicated to children with autism. It was the first project initiated by the foundation with the help of the undertaken EU funds and programmes, and the developed projects have supported the partial recovery of children with autism, helping their families to be able to meet the most challenging issues.

Since 2003, the association began operating as Foundation under the name “Children in Distress” (CID Romania). Today, CID functions as a Romanian branch of the “Children in Distress” UK Foundation (CID UK). In accordance with the Articles of Incorporation, “Children in Distress” carries out assistance and protection programs dedicated to various categories of children: disabled, chronically and terminally ill, HIV/AIDS positive, children at risk of family and school dropout and truancy.

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