UNICEF, the International Foundation for Child and Family (FICF), and IOMC carried out a
second study in 1996 entitled The Causes of Child Institutionalization in Romania, which
indicated that some 70% of the children aged 0-3 years who had been institutionalized in shelters
were coming directly from maternities and pediatric hospitals/wards. The survey showed that
child abandonment (in maternity and pediatric hospitals/wards) was the main cause of
institutionalization in the case of 51% of these children. It further evidenced that child
abandonment was considered to be the sole cause for institutionalization in only 10% of the
cases, while the remainder pointed to other socio-economic factors.