In 1999 Marta Zych organized her first Christmas toy drive for children in an orphanage in her native Poland. That connection has grown over the years as she’s stayed in touch with the institutions and the children in them, and it’s become the stimulus behind her MSW thesis research. Zych returned to her native Poland for two months in fall 2006 to study that nation’s child welfare system. Through interviews with childcare providers and observing children in an orphanage, she is investigating how well Poland’s orphanages meet the developmental needs of children.

Marta Zych
Social Work