Dominic Fritz, about the case in Bihor: "411 people are supposed to disappear from Bihor by the Romanian state. Where are they today? Are they doing better?"

The mayor of Timișoara, Dominic Fritz, stated that the Romanian state has a long history of abandoning the vulnerable, referring to the 411 people relocated from Dumbrava, Bihor.

Fritz expresses his concern about the conditions in which they now live and the negative impact of policies for reintegrating children into biological families, which he observed during 2003-2004 when he worked as a volunteer.

“Since then, I no longer trust when the Romanian state says it knows best what to do with your life. Since then, I know what 'form without substance' means, when a person's life is turned into a number, when the norms on paper matter more than the reality of a human being. 411 people made to disappear from Bihor by the Romanian state. Where are they today? Are they doing better?”

He recalls how many children were placed in disorganized families, where they suffered abuse and neglect. Fritz emphasizes that, although the Romanian state promised improvements, the reality was different, and many of these children were abandoned twice, both by their parents and by the state.

He expresses regret that he could not do more to help them and urges a reflection on social responsibility towards the vulnerable.

“Many years have passed, and I wonder if I could have done more. Back then, in 2007-2008, as a student, I wrote to every DGASPC in the country to ask how many monitoring visits they made to the reintegrated children. Few responded to me,' the mayor of Timișoara shows.”