A charity co-founded by a Newbridge couple has opened its first family home for Romanian Orphans.

Casa Primavara, in the Romanian county of Bihor, is now home to eight children between the ages of nine and 12, their foster parents and two assistants.

The charity has also bought a minibus for the new home, to enable the children to be taken to school and go on outings.

The opening of the family home is the culmination of many years of hard work by Barbara and Graham Hattam of Newbridge, who are trustees of the charity Primavera Copiilor, along with Longdowns couple Barbara and Frank Morton.

All four have recently returned from Romania, where they were making arrangements for the opening and monitoring the first few weeks of the home's operation.

For the past seven years Barbara, a special needs teacher at Ludgvan School and her husband Graham, an ex-farmer turned builder have, along with the Mortons, been travelling regularly to Romania to work on the house and look after three other Romanian teenagers.

Barbara says that the latter years have been particularly frustrating as the Romanian authorities have continually 'moved their targets' - but the charity and the Romanian Department for Child Protection are finally working together.

Barbara told The Cornishman: "We have now been asked to open another home, but we will do things differently this time.

"We will get a property that doesn't need quite so much doing to it. The home itself was very cheap - we paid something like £4,000 for it - but we have had to spend a lot of money doing it up, because materials are very expensive and difficult to get hold of in Romania."

The plight of Romania's orphans became internationally known in the late 80s when dictator Ceausescu was removed from power and the appalling living conditions in the orphanages was exposed.

"Orphanages have improved over there since then - but they still offer no stimulation to the children, they are just left there and have nothing to do," said Barbara.

"Some orphanages are worse than others - some have workers that actually care for the children and others don't.

"All in all, they are still pretty grim places," added Barbara.

Consequently the opening of this new 'family' home for a small number of children has put smiles on the faces of orphans - and attracted interest from the Romanian media.

The opening of Casa Primavara was an important step forward not only for the Primavara Copiilor charity, but also for the Bihor Department for Child Protection - as it marked a huge step forward in the development of childcare policy.

The department is now trying to close down some of its infamous institutions and is following a policy of placing children with Romanian foster families and looking to set up more family homes like the Primavara home.

Barbara and Graham are now raising money to open another family home in the county of Bihor, to enable more children to leave the institutions behind them and start to have a real family life.

With an improving relationship with the authorities, the charity hopes that it can purchase another family home within the next year and have it opened shortly after.

"We would like to thank everyone who has helped us in anyway to make Casa Primavera happen," said Barbara.

"We hope you will continue to support us and by doing so will give other institutionalised children the opportunity to have a better life.

"We are always open to offers of help with fund raising and welcome any new ideas. If anyone feels the can put on a fund-raising event or help in anyway, please contact us," added Barbara, who can be reached via e-mail at HattamB@aol.com.

The charity can also be contacted at the Faith, Hope and Charity shop in Penryn.