As the 1990s draw to a close and we approach the new millennium, I would like to take readers back to the images that haunted our TV screens and newspapers at the start of the decade when the horror of Romania's orphanages was exposed.

The plight of the children so moved people it generated probably the largest philanthropic response seen this decade. The result was millions of pounds in aid and the formation of more than 800 UK charities in Romania alone.

While there is much to be done - one and a half million children are still growing up in state institutions in central and eastern Europe - significant advances have taken place. The results of a survey for The European Children's Trust showed that the majority of people asked remembered the original news coverage, were aware of the scale of the problem, and knew that 95 per cent of orphanage children have families they could return to if supported.

Often we never know if our charitable contributions really help.

Well they do and, thanks to the British public, there is finally hope for many of these once forgotten children.

KATE PIERCE

PR & Campaigns Manager

The European Children's Trust

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.