Frustrations.........

In the 8+ years I've lived here, and earlier summers from 1996 on having come with teams to serve, there has been an ongoing frustration with the "system" regarding kids who are either orphaned or grow up in children's homes because their parents are unable to raise them properly.

The frustrations are many...one is that when these kids reach age 24, they are completely "on their own"...and if they don't have a proper education or have any "disadvantages" mentally or physically, it is nearly impossible for them to find work...which means that they end up in homeless shelters. Right now there are two precious boys I've known for years, both of whom live in homeless shelters...one is 24 and the other one is 19. Both want work, but neither can find a job and hold on to it.

There are three boys who have emerged "successfully"...all three of them now live and work in England...there is where they are scraping out an existence.

Another young man planned to be a soldier, but didn't pass the psychological test; so now what does he do? He's searched high and low for work...

I could go on and on....one boy just showed up at my front door this morning; I've not seen him in probably 2 years. He's looking for work...apparently, no one will hire him...they look at his clothes and send him away...most of his clothes were stolen from him at a homeless shelter he was living in in a neighboring town. He gets one hot meal a day.

However, the biggest frustration is with the core of the children's home/orphanage system here in Hungary. If THAT doesn't change, then these homes will keep "raising" these kids, and sending them out when they are 18-24 and who knows what will happen. The core of the problems lies in the fact that when parents/families put their kids in these homes, they have the option of NOT signing release papers for their kids to be adopted. In other words, the parents are still their "parents", but the state is raising their kid. Why don't parents sign release papers for their kids to be adopted into other families so they can have a more "normal" life? Because when these kids turn 18, they get a very large amount of money from the national government...and the parents tend to "show up" again, right before the kid turns 18, and start "building a relationship" with the kid in order to get that money!

My proposal is that parents must be required, after 2 years, to sign the release papers for their kids to be available for adoption if they have put them in these children's homes.

Every one of the young adults that I am friends with who came through the children's home system would have benefitted greatly had he/she been adopted by a family, either here or abroad.

Frustrations..................the system needs to be changed! Praying my Hungarian friends will read this and pray and ask the Lord to give them wisdom as to how they can be a part of lobbying their politicians to change these ridiculous laws....sorry if I sound a bit frustrated, but I am.