Reina Isabel has hope

The Romero sisters
La Prensa, Honduras

Reina Isabel, the 10-year-old abandoned at the hospital along with her newborn sister, has been placed in the Nueva Esperanza center (new hope) with her 5-year-old sister and the newborn.

Honduran citizens reading La Prensa's articles have donated clothes, milk, and a baby carriage for the girls. The 5-year-old says that she wants to leave the center. The mother has gone to the center to visit her daughters but has been denied visitation as the girls are in the custody of the state (IHNFA).

The Nueva Esperanza center was constructed seven months ago by the Junta de Andalucía, Spain. I'm hoping it is not one of the IHNFA centers that I've read about where the children are starved, beaten, sexually abused, and live in filthy, lice-infected surroundings.

The girls look happy in the photo. Under Honduran laws, it is highly unlikely that they would ever be eligible for adoption.