Forget-me-not Foundation

About us

Forget-me-not Foundation Romania is a United Kingdom based charity (no.1091442 registered with UK Charities Commission) for the purpose of helping Romanian orphans with special needs.

Our Story

For more than a decade we have been working for the welfare of orphaned children. The foundation was set up by Simon Long in 2002, with sponsorship from Novatron Scientific

The Forget-me-not Foundation was originally caring for five young orphans who had been living in poorly equipped state orphanages. Today, only the youngest of the original 5 kids, Costi, remains. Since 2012, Forget-me-not has been working in partnership with Romanian Child Protection authorities and has expanded to now provide a home for over 14 young people with a beautiful house and garden/play facilities with ability for the kids to learn and develop in a family-type environment.

The Early Days

Our work has covered more than a decade of helping Romanian orphans by providing a home, garden, education, recuperation and pastoral care.

Forget-me-not first opened as a permanent home for the original 5 kids in September 2002. The result for the original 5 kids was to teach them social skills, how to take care of their own personal hygiene, learn at school, play together and interpersonal communication skills. Today, from the original children, only Costi remains at the home. The other kids have grown up and moved on to a new home for young people with special needs but are still together and we still visit them today.

Become a Volunteer

Do you like to work with children? Do you feel the need to make a real difference in their lives?

There are many ways that you can help support our work with children and young people. Please contact us for a volunteer application form.

Our work

Our work has covered more than a decade of helping Romanian orphans by providing a home, garden, education, recuperation and pastoral care. Our goal is to teach them social skills and how to take care of their own personal needs, how to learn at school, to play together, and interpersonal communication skills.

A Family Home

Forget-me-not has worked, for more than a decade, with abandoned, orphaned and abused children. These are the children who have been abandoned by their parents. Forget-me-not Foundation, in partnership with DGASPC Vrancea (County Department For Child Protection), is deeply involved in providing a family home, care, therapy and recovery, education and mentoring, in addition to helping with the children's physical needs like food, clothing and medical attention.

Education

For many of the orphans and disabled children, a proper education is not available. Even though the Romanian government provides free education through the state-run schools, many orphans cannot afford to be equipped with the requirement of attending school. We aim to help our children receive a good education, acquire skills be capable of leading a successful and independent life by developing their interest for learning and education, choosing a profession and find a job, developing skills for independent living, and gaining self-confidence.

Social Reintegration

Our children face a number of social challenges and disadvantages, because of abandonment by their parents. Forget-me-not advocates on their behalf, striving to provide them with a safe environment to live, social reintegration and educational opportunities available, adapted to their personal needs. Our goal is for these children to be fully reintegrated into the Romanian society, to have a solid education and a safe place to live. By addressing these issues early on, the children we support will have an opportunity to build a better future for themselves.

Simon Long
(Founder & Trustee)

It’s our job to keep cash rolling in, and this is done by our registered UK charity Forget-me-not Foundation Romania no.1091442. Whilst the main sponsor is Novatron Scientific Ltd, further fund raising and donations are still needed to keep us going. We have organised and participated in many fund raising events over the years, including marathons, Iron Man triathlon, sponsored drive to Monaco, quad-bike run and many more..."

How can you help?
Make A Donation!

You may obtain a copy of “Bluebelle’s Yard“ children’s DVD
by making a donation on the gift aid web page of min £6,
and emailing us your address, or by sending
a cheque to us for £6 with your address for delivery.
Alternatively, you can make a donation online by going to our
Virgin Giving page"

Photo Book

Meet some of yesterday's and today’s children and young people at Forget-me-not.

All

Item 1 — The original kids

The original 5 kids with founder Simon Long

Item 2 — Today’s kids

The current children at Fmn

Item 3 — Gardening

Caring for our home and garden

Item 4 — We are a family

Living togheter as a family

Item 5 — The beginning

Manager Florin with Gabi (2002)

Item 6 — Enjoying the open spaces

Dana with Simon in the park (2003)

Item 7 — Outings

The 5 kids on a day out in the country (2003)

Item 8 — Summer in the garden

Summer in the garden (2007)

Item 9 — The Early Days

Alex and Costica in pool (2004)

Item 10 — Christmas Magic

The magic of Christmas (2007)

Item 11 — Dana’s birthday

Enjoying a birthday with cake and fun (2005)

Item 13 — Weekend

Relaxing and watching TV in the lounge

Item 14 — Meal time

Meal times are set in rotas due to varying school starting times

Item 15 — Cooking skills

Madalina shows off her cooking skills

Item 16 — Fmn Home

Street view of our home in Focsani, Romania

Item 17 — Ice scating

Ice scating in Focsani, Christmas 2015

Item 18 — A brithday surprise

A sweet birthday surprise... enjoy!

Item 19 — Discovering trails

Discovering the trails of the "wine country"

Item 20 — Enjoying the view

Enjoying the view... from the mountain top.

Item 21 — We've made it to the end

We've made it to the end and now new life roads are open to us

Donations

Donations and Fundrising Events

It’s the job of our UK base to keep cash rolling in and this is done by our registered UK charity Forget-me-not Foundation Romania no.1091442, based in Horsham U.K. Whilst the principle sponsor is Novatron Scientific, further fund raising and donations are still needed to keep us going. Our founder has organised and participated in many fund raising events over the years, including marathons, Iron Man triathlon, sponsored drive to Monaco , quad-bike run and many more. Our latest fund-raiser is our short animated film , for small children, out on DVD : “Bluebelle’s Yard, the Tale of Johnny Minor”. This is produced entirely for Forget-me-not and is a 10 minute feature about old cars in a scrap yard, with theme tune sung by school children and dedicated entirely to Forget-me-not. Donate Now

Holidays

Organising holidays for the Forget-me-not kids in the U.K is our next step to bring more enjoyment and experience to their lives. Learning some English too is a great advantage. We aim to invite each child over to the UK for a holiday, along with their carer. Travel costs to be paid for by Fmn. Most of the Fmn kids have never seen the sea, learned to swim, ride a bike or travelled on an airplane. Could you host a child with a Fmn carer for a week’s holiday in your home and take them out places? Please CONTACT US if you think you could help.

An ongoing project that needs your support