Who is Irina?
How did you
cope?
How does your experience
compare?
What are the
stats? | Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Irina?
Irina is my middle name. She is in fact myself. It is my true story.
How did you cope when your father died?
Not very well. Nobody wanted to talk with me about my losses and I didn't know how. I had lost not only my father but also my two brothers since I was separated from them and my home. I thought I was a bad girl because it seemed to be a bad subject. And I withdrew. I coped very badly after my aunt died when I was 16. Nobody understood my pain - after all she wasn't really my mother...it was a terrible time. I suffered from asthma from 7 years of age to 20 ...24/7.
How does your experience compare to other orphaned children in Canada?
The abandonment, the incredible fear and insecurity and loss of self worth - the internal, psychological trauma of abandonment is the thing that all orphaned (abandoned) children share..regardless of their circumstance. It doesn't show because children are very loving and try to please and they have no idea who to explain the trauma they feel. They do understand their circumstance, but they do not know how to describe it.
How many orphaned children are there in Canada?
There 88,000 children in the Foster Care system. 22,000 of these are waiting for adoption. The foster home care system was originally designed to be a short term solution, however it has become a long term problem. Every year the number grows while the number of adoptions decrease. |
