After the overthrow of a dictatorship in 1989, Romania was opened to the world for the first time in decades.

With it, around 170,000 orphans were discovered languishing in the harsh conditions of hundreds of institutions.

This left a generation of children who'd been brought up without care, stimulation or comfort.

And it prompted a comprehensive scientific effort to study the effects of institutionalisation on these children's wellbeing.

Many of these children were adopted by foreigners in the 1990s and some went to the United Kingdom.

Edmund Sonuga-Barke is Professor of Developmental Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Kings College London.

He's the senior author of a recent paper looking at brain development and function in a cohort of Romanian orphans whove been followed for decades since they came to the UK.

Guests:

Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke

Professor of Developmental Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Kings College London

Host:

Dr Norman Swan

Producer:

James Bullen

See the article here:
Romania's orphans early neglect, brain size and behaviour - ABC News