Education Romania Project #43545

Help autistic orphans in Romania get an education

by The Delia Foundation

Project Report | Sep 25, 2026
Learning, Growing, and Finding Confidence

By Lauren Fishbach | U.S. Board President, Co-Founder Delia's Center

Dear Friends,

After a wonderful relaxed but full summer, we are kicked back into higher gear at Delia's Center. For our kids who attend school, it can be a stressful time as they try to adapt in the classroom and fit in with classmates.

We are proud that Delia's Center is a safe place where the children have been able to learn at their own pace, setting the stage for more success at school. A big part of what we do relates to increasing confidence so that the children are more comfortable around their peers. We are hopeful of being able to offer more digital learning opportunities in the future as we are seeing this is very helpful. The donation of a laptop for our speech therapy program (thank you to our German partner, Ora Kinderhifle) has positively impacted engagement and furthering speech and language development. The children love when our speech therapist incorporates digital learning into their sessions.

We hope you enjoy the photos of some of our kids. Our youngest child with autism is 3 years old and in foster care. Our oldest is 16! I have to confess to feeling sad about her as she has so much potential but so little opportunity. We had high hopes for Simina as she is intelligent and curious. She is nonverbal and could only attend elementary and middle school with a family member at her side. Once it came time to be in middle school, she was challenged but the movement from class to class during the day. No support specialist to explain or help her work through it. Instead the school decided she did. not belong. For the past few years, Simina has attended a special needs school. I wish that I could say she has grown here but in many ways her growth has been stunted. Our team feeds her curiousity and lets her explore her creative interests but I can't but help to wonder how different the future could have been for her.

As always, we are grateful for your continued support of our special kids. Please feel free to email with any questions.

Lauren@deliafoundation.org

Best,
Lauren

Links:

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May 29, 2026
Our Amazing Visit with our Children & Team

By Lauren Fishbach | U.S. Board President, Co-Founder Delia's Center

Buna Ziua (Good Afternoon) !

April was an incredible month (as is May!). The joy of walking into Delia's Center and being suddenly surrounded and hugged by our kids is an incredible feeling. It's the joy of knowing we have created a safe learning environment where they can be themselves. It's the joy of realizing that an autistic child who was once in his "shell" is now stepping forward for a hug!

Our CEO Laura Larkin was lucky enough to visit in both February and April. I was thrilled to be there in April, joined by one of our US Board Members, Kyle. A number of our smallest children, especially the boys, have autism and we are very pleased to have an opportunity for them to begin to receive support and services early (our youngest is 3 but we usually begin at age 4).

June 1st is International Day of the Child. Our team held two celebrations this week: one for the younger kids and one for the older. We decided to celebrate a few days early as many children spend the day with their families. We had dressed up characters who came to play with bubbles, parachutes, dancing, limbo and facepainting! We started our time together with arts and craft projects and ended the fun with yummy snacks. The kids had a blast ! It is so important for them to feel a part of something as they are often left out of fun activities with other children. (photos included).

One of our new summer initiatives is a new project called "Hello from Here!" It is an email penpal program matching student volunteers in the US and UK with our children who are learning English in school. It's a fun way for them to practice reading and writing English and gives both penpals the opportunity to connect with and learn from another child across the world. We will look forward to updating in our next report in the fall!

Thank you for all of the support and care that enables our children to grow and thrive! It is truly life changing!

Wishing you a beautiful, sunny summer.

With Gratitude,
Lauren

Links:

Delia Foundation Website

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Jan 27, 2026
2026: Awareness, Action & Education

By LAUREN FISHBACH | US Board President, Co-Founder Delia's Center

Dear Friends,

The start of a new year is always so hopeful and full of promise. As we look to the coming months, we are feel it's time not only for continued education but for more awareness and action. What does this mean? It is eight years since we opened our doors. We are so proud of our team and children for the strides they have made and the educational opportunities provided to children who were born without any opportunities at all. We see that our kids have become more confident in themselves and their abilities. But outside the walls of Delia's Center, the world is very often still a cold place for our kids. A child who is eager to learn still struggles to be accepted in a school that offers no support and no understanding of the daily challenges. We still have kids who can only attend school if a parent or grandparent remains at their side. Our kids who don't have parents, who are orphaned and in foster care, especially suffer without anyone to be their champion. This leads us to want to do more in 2026 toward community awareness and advocacy. To work with foster parents in guiding them on how to stand up for their special kids. Importantly, we want to find more ways to demonstrate to the community that autism is not synonmous with being "unable to educate."

We welcome hearing from you with any thoughts and ideas on ways to do this! Please free to open the dialog by writing to me -

lauren@deliafoundation.org

As always, we would like to share with you some of our latest photos . Thank you for all of your support and if we can ask a favor from you - we are on a mission to increase our monthly donors. It is only through consistent support that we can provide the stable care and sevices our children require. If you are not already a monthly donor, please consider it. If you can, please share this project with family and friends so that we can increasse support while operating costs (heat, water, taxes, food, etc) continue to rise.

Multumesc fromos!

Lauren

Links:

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