Behind each of the million children in institutions, there is usually a story of parents who are desperate and feel they've run out of options, like Natalia in Moldova, who only had enough money to feed her baby, and so had to send her older son to the institution; or Desi, in Bulgaria, who looked after her four children at home until her husband died, but then she had to go out to work full time, and with no support, felt she had no option but to place a child with disabilities in an institution; or the countless young girls too terrified to tell their parents they're pregnant, who leave their babies in a hospital; or the new parents, the young couple who have just found out that their firstborn child has a disability, and instead of being provided with positive messages about their child's potential, are told by the doctors, \"Forget her, leave her in the institution, go home and make a healthy one.\"
Di balik jutaan anak yang tinggal di panti asuhan biasanya ada kisah tentang orang tua yang putus asa dan merasa mereka tidak punya pilihan lagi, seperti Natalia di Moldova, yang hanya memiliki cukup uang untuk memberi makan bayinya, sehingga dia harus memasukkan putra sulungnya ke panti asuhan; atau Desi, di Bulgaria, yang merawat empat orang anaknya di rumah hingga suaminya meninggal dunia, lalu dia harus bekerja penuh waktu, dan tanpa sokongan apapun, dia tidak memiliki pilihan lain selain memasukkan anaknya yang cacat ke panti asuhan atau para wanita muda yang tak terhitung banyaknya, takut untuk memberi tahu orang tua mereka kalau mereka hamil. Kemudian mereka meninggalkan bayi mereka di rumah sakit, Ataupun para orang tua baru, pasangan muda yang baru mengetahui bahwa anak mereka lahir dengan cacat, dan bukannya mendapat pesan positif akan potensi anak mereka, dokter mereka mengatakan, \"Lupakan saja dan tinggalkan dia di panti asuhan. Pulanglah dan lahirkanlah anak yang sehat lain kali.\"