Sebi is an almost seven-year-old boy, like a ray of sunshine: he glows wherever he appears, and spreads around a warm, solar, and joyful energy. He walks into the room and already everything feels much more alive and warmer. He has big eyes and a piercing gaze that "hooks" people’s hearts.
Sebi was born at 7 months and 12 days, but the first arms that should have carried him into the world, holding him tight, safe, and loving, left him alone.
He spent the first two years of his life in the maternity ward, abandoned by his biological parents. At five and a half years old, he was adopted by his family from Brasov.
"We were the only ones who believed in him, we felt that this child would become a grown-up . It was hard from where we started, but it's beautiful where we got now. We took him to make him a grown-up," says Sebi's mother.
When foster parents met Sebi, they were not afraid of challenges, even though he was a child with a very fragile body, with hyperkinetic, language, and behavior disorders, with great loss of balance, serious dental problems, and a very pronounced strabismus. He could only say "mommy" and "daddy" and suffered from constant fear and anxiety due to repeated abandonment trauma.
The almost one and a half years since Sebi has a family has made a huge difference in the boy's life: today, he is a child on the road to recovery only thanks to the unceasing efforts of his parents and the recovery services he receives at the Community Center Integrated from Brasov: speech therapy, physical therapy, and psychotherapy. Three neuropsychiatrists confirmed that Sebi recovered almost four years in one year. Today, Sebastian is speaking in full sentences, is dressing and undressing by himself, is handling basic routines and basic requests.
All this progress he made in just one year and a few months would not have been possible without the team at the Integrated Community Center in Brasov, which became like a second home for Sebi and his family. His hyperkinetic disorders required a specific physical therapy program for muscle relaxation and coordination and balance exercises. Also, his fear of abandonment, still present today, has diminished considerably with the help of psychological counseling sessions.
Sebi's foster parents are people of modest means, for whom the costs of the therapies that Sebi has to undergo every week would be far too high and difficult to take on the long term, and the Integrated Community Center is the ideal place, where he can access all therapies in one place, free of charge.
For this reason, Integrated Community Centers can help as many children as possible, we need your help. You can make a difference in the lives of these children right now: activate a monthly online donation and help support the Integrated Community Centers.
Thank you for choosing to help.
rgb(227,225,220)
What impact could my monthly donation make?
Your monthly support regularly provides children in need with...
Access to social protection services
Access to medical services
Specialized services for disabled children
Educational support and resources
Frequently Asked Questions
UNICEF is the United Nations Children’s Fund, working to protect and promote the rights of every child, everywhere. We work to help the most vulnerable with health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more.
Thanks to support from donors like you, we have been able to make a difference for children in need, to save, nurture, and protect the most vulnerable. We are active in over 190 countries and territories and have helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization.
You can securely make a one-time or/and monthly donation online on our website on the Donate Now button.
No donation is too small, and any donation can help save children's lives.
You choose for how long you wish to donate: monthly or only once. In order to contribute to a fundamental change in the lives of vulnerable children, the longer you choose to get involved, the more powerful your donation will be. Vulnerable children’s lives can improve with your long-term, constant support. By donating, you become an active part of the solution and of the change process
The money raised is used where it is needed for vulnerable children. For example, to provide free access to specialized services for vulnerable children in Romania or offer a rapid and effective response to children affected by wars and natural disasters.
UNICEF asks for monthly contributions to help us provide sustainable long-term solutions to help children around the world.
A monthly gift is a recurring gift amount that you choose to send each month, and it is even more impactful because you're helping children every single day.
Your monthly gift will also enable us to plan effectively in our upcoming work, reduce costs and most importantly, reach even more children in need. The support and generosity of monthly donors contribute significantly to UNICEF efforts to help vulnerable children.
We will be sending you regular updates about UNICEF’s work for children in Romania and around the world.
Don't hesitate to contact us at prietenunicef@unicef.org and we will be happy to assist you.
Donating online through the website is just as safe as any other online payment. UNICEF does not have access to your bank card details as that information is secured and protected by the payment processor. UNICEF has access only to the contact details you provide in the donation form: name, surname, e-mail and phone number.