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Ratliff Roams Romania

Fulbright Scholar Seeks to Improve Life in Romania

by Lauren Madrid, Web Communications Coordinator

What doesn’t Dan Ratliff, Ph.D., know about Romania? A lot. But he knows more right now than when he started his blog called, “Discovering What I Don’t Know About Romania,” a chronicle of his year teaching at Babeş- Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania as a Fulbright Scholar. His teaching project is titled “Enhancing Social Services for Children and Families in Romania.”

Ratliff ’s journey to Romania actually started with the St. Mary’s4:04 PM 2/14/2011 Spain Semester Program. “My wife, Nancy, was the program director for the program in 2000, and I accompanied her,” he said. “We moved our whole family to Madrid and had a wonderful experience.” Since then, he’s been looking for another opportunity to conduct research and to travel abroad with his family.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Ratliff will continue his research in social services while living in a new place with his family.

In his work as the director of St. Mary’s Family Life Center, Ratliff has been involved with efforts to improve social services for children and families in San Antonio. He’s applying those skills to teach courses in nongovernmental organization (NGO) program development, professional ethics, and techniques of family therapy so that NGOs in Romania can better work together to improve services for children and families.

“In Romania, for the past 10 years, development has focused on governmental advocacy, legislation, external funding and organizational capacity,” Ratliff said. “My proposal focuses on ‘downstream’ development and provides assistance with direct services, outcomes assessment, and developing sustainable partnerships with other organizations.”

Ratliff arrived in his new surroundings last September, and he’s still trying to get his bearings. Life in Romania is remarkably different from life in the States, and he and his family learn something new every day. Though no longer Communist, there are remnants of the Communist life throughout Romania.

“Bureaucracy is a fact of daily life here. Every transaction with a public institution requires multiple signatures and stamps, which means a lot of waiting in lines,” Ratliff said. The red tape extends to social services in Romania as well, where the structure of services is not standardized like it is in the United States. There, agencies are creating social services from the ground up. This, combined with Romanian bureaucracy, makes for a sometimes frustrating experience.

“Social service agencies must employ one full-time social worker just to take care of all of the reports and forms that the bureaucratic funding agencies require,” Ratliff said. “The idea of starting a new initiative in social services to meet the needs of Romanian society is strangled by the bureaucratic burden.”

Not knowing much of the language hasn’t kept the Ratliff family from participating in Romanian life. They’ve traveled around the country, visited museums and attended church services. They’re renting an apartment from a retired couple who grow their own produce, a byproduct of the food shortages during the Communist era. The Ratliffs often share meals with this couple, eating traditional Romanian fare. They’ve introduced their hosts to American food, too, by having a turkey and trimmings for American Thanksgiving.

Even though he’s currently abroad, Ratliff is thinking about how his San Antonio students can learn from his experiences. “My students can learn about how all the services to solve human problems can fit together, and how well the services meet the needs of their clients,” Ratliff said. “By looking at the big picture of social services in the San Antonio area, we can improve services for children and families.”

To follow Dan Ratliff’s adventures abroad, read his blog at romaniawhatidontknow. blogspot.com.