BOOK BY CWRU AUTHOR OFFERS MULTI-FACETED LOOK AT ROMANIA'S NATIONAL TRAGEDY AND HOW THE
WORLD RESPONDED
CLEVELAND—A fter Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was executed in 1989, the world learned the
tragic results of his repressive social policies. In hundreds of institutions nationwide, an
estimated 100,000 children were found warehoused in conditions too Draconian to comprehend.
A new book by a Case Western Reserve University professor and two co-authors offers a
multi-faceted perspective of Romania's national tragedy and the world's response to it.
A Peacock or a Crow? Stories, Interviews and Commentaries on Romanian Adoptions
interweaves history, first-person narratives, and social science research.
The result " reads almost as an adventure story," observes James A. Rosenthal, a professor of
social work at the University of Oklahoma, in a pre-publication review. "It is highlighted
by stories—personal accounts of the journeys of adopting families. One meets birth families
and gets a first-hand feel for the severe economic conditions that Romanian families deal with."&
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Mario Puzo, best-selling author of
The Godfather, calls the new release "a valuable and interesting book about one of the
most heartbreaking tragedies of our times."
The book, whose title refers to a Romanian proverb, is based on the experiences of lead author
Victor Groza, an associate professor of social work at CWRU's Mandel School of Applied Social
Sciences. Spurred by the initial media reports, Groza decided he must find a way to assist
Romania, birthplace of his paternal grandparents. Since his first visit in 1991, he has
returned annually with a team of graduate students to conduct research and to provide training and
technical assistance to child welfare projects.
Excerpts from Groza's journals and diaries offer graphic glimpses of conditions within the
institutions—the inadequate food, heat, and medical care, the abysmal hygiene, the lack of
stimulation or attention from staff, the absence of toys or opportunities to play or exercise.
In one chilling entry, Groza describes a five-year-old boy screaming and struggling in
terror at being taken from his ward to another room for an assessment. "What we discovered
(later) was that this child had never before been out of the room," Groza writes. "Can you
imagine? Five years old and only to have known the same four walls!"
Media reports of these appalling conditions generated an influx of Americans and others eager to
adopt Romania's unwanted children. The adoption boom soon spawned gray and black markets.
"If you went to the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest, (middle men) would approach you
about whether you wanted a child for adoption," the authors write. "The reason most Americans were
in Romania…was to adopt, so the hotel became the ‘ storefront' for the ‘gray baby market'."<
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The black market by-passed the institutional system, arranging adoptions of poor children
directly from their families to the highest bidder. From August 1990 to February 1991,
one-fourth of the children adopted were under six months old and from poor families rather than
institutions, according to the authors.
To stem the exploitation and worldwide criticism, the Romanian government clamped a moratorium
on out-of-country adoption in June 1991. Although the moratorium ended two years later with the
passage of a new adoption law, a growing bureaucracy has slowed the adoption process.
Moreover, poor women continue to abandon their unwanted babies, leaving them in a legal limbo and
ineligible for adoption. "Although conditions are slightly better in some institutions," the
authors report, "the number of incarcerated children has risen."
For families considering international adoption,
A Peacock or a Crow features a how-to section on procedures and expenses, information on
how institutionalization affects child development, and the encouraging results of Groza's research
of hundreds of American families who adopted children from Romania. Despite their early
deprivation, these adoptees are generally faring well in their new families, Groza found.
"Reading
A Peacock or a Crow is a must for anyone considering adopting internationally, from
Romania or any other country," observes Betsie Norris, executive director of the Adoption Network
in Cleveland. The book also "gives practical guidance to those families who perhaps are
struggling with parenting these deeply wounded children," notes Jayne Schooler of the Institute of
Human Services in Columbus, OH.
Groza's co-authors, Daniela F. Ileana and Ivor Irwin, bring distinct expertise to the
collaboration.
Ileana, a Cleveland social worker and graduate of the Mandel School, was born in Romania and
spent her first 14 years living under the omnipresent Securitate, Ceausescu's secret police.
"You couldn't trust anybody," Ileana recalls. "My parents always told me that every other person is
a Securitate person. Even your brother would report on you. You had a world inside
your mind and that is where you kept it." Since 1994, she has returned to her homeland
several times to conduct research with Groza.
Ivor Irwin, a fiction writer and lecturer at Roosevelt University in Chicago, was raised in
England by his grandmother, an émigré from Bucharest. He has visited Romania and brings his
skills as a novelist to
A Peacock or a Crow.
Additional information about the book and its authors is available through the CWRU Web site at
www.case.edu/pubaff/univcomm/authors/groza.htm.
A Peacock or a Crow is published by the Williams Custom Publishing Division of Lakeshore
Communications, 24100 Lakeshore Drive, Euclid, OH, 44123; phone 1-800-537-8054. The
book is available at various bookstores nationwide and more information is available in the "
Books" section.
