The University has received a $900,000 grant to help develop the child welfare system in Romania.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation – based in Chicago – gave the money to establish an Institute of Child Development in Romania.

Charles Nelson, professor of child psychology, neuroscience and pediatrics – who has fiscal oversight of the grant – said the Romanian government is in the process of deinstitutionalizing more than 40,000 children.

He said the institute will help provide the government with resources to deal with the transition.

“(Institutionalizing children) leads to significant problems in development, and they are not really ready yet to treat these problems,” he said.