Bucharest 2007

COORDINATOR

Gabriela Alexandrescu

Executive President – „Save the Children‟ Organization

IMPACT OF PARENTS’ MIGRATION ON

CHILDREN LEFT AT HOME

AUTHORS

Miriam Munteanu – „Save the Children‟ Organization

Elena Tudor – National Authority for Child Rights Protection (chapter V)

Cover: photo taken during ‘We are Your Friends” Project, presented in the chapter on best practices

Bucharest, Intrarea Ştefan Furtună, nr.3

Sector 1, cod 010899

Tel.021 316 61 76; Fax: 021 312 44 86

e-mail: rosc@Save the Children.ro

www.salvaticopiii.ro

Foreword

Save the Children Romania, an active member of the International Save the

Children Alliance, is a non-governmental, non-profit organization based on the voluntary

involvement of its members who conduct activities to the benefit of children, especially

those in difficulty. Save the Children is well-known for its active participation and

coordination capacity in the development of national studies and strategies that have a direct

impact in the child protection system in Romania.

Save the Children approaches any social phenomenon with an impact on children,

one of its main roles being that of promoting and supporting the application of the UN

Convention on the Rights of the Child and ensure the observance of the rights of the child

at all levels of the Romanian society. In this sense, Save the Children carries out children‟s

rights monitoring activities, is involved in identifying all problems that certain categories of

children are faced with, develops and provides special services, based on the needs and

identified problems.

At present, Romania is faced with a new social phenomenon with a major impact on

children, namely the migration of an increasing number of parents to countries with a more

developed economy, parents that leave their children at home to be taken care of by other

people, for undetermined periods of time.

This study is an analysis from the viewpoint of how the rights of the children are

observed after they are left in the country following the external migration of their parents

and was carried out in order to obtain an image as clear as possible of the situation of this

category of children, to identify their needs, problems and difficulties, all this being a starting

point for the development of the most appropriate types of services dedicated to this

category.

Gabriela Alexandrescu

Executive President

Save the Children Romania

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the people who supported us in our undertaking, by

offering important data and information that represented a starting point in the research, all

those who supported us in the collection of the data in the locations in which the study was

conducted (Suceava, Iaşi and Piatra Neamţ) as well as all the participants in the study (as

respondents): children, teachers, school counsellors, parents and grandparents and

representatives of DGASPC (Directorate General of Social Assistance and Child Protection)

and town halls of the three locations chosen.

In this sense, we would like to thank:

The Ministry of Education, Research and Youth

The principals, teachers and school counsellors from the schools that supported us

in the organization of the focus groups and interviews during the whole research,

helping us to contact the target group

The members and volunteers of Save the Children Branches from Suceava, Iaşi and

Piatra Neamţ

We would also like to extend out special thanks for their support and collaboration

to the National Authority for Child Rights Protection (ANPDC), who provided us with data

regarding the number of children left at home after their parents‟ departure to work abroad

and had the kindness to present to us the main measures taken to support this category of

children. The situation outlined by ANPDC is described in chapter 5 of this report.

We would also like to thank Mrs. Mihaela Carmen Plăcintă, Mrs. Lucica Cosovan

and Mrs. Dorica Cîmpan, teachers at „Miron Costin‟ School in Suceava, for the project they

initiated and coordinated, which is presented as a “best practice” example in this study.

List of abbreviations

ANPDC National Authority for Child Rights Protection

MECT Ministry of Education, Youth and Research

SPAS Public Service of Social Assistance

DGASPC Directorate General of Social Assistance and Child Protection

CDC UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

CONTENTS

Foreword 4

Acknowledgements 5

I. INTRODUCTION 8

II. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 13

III. METHODOLOGY 14

IV. RESULTS OF THE STUDY 16

V. National Authority for Child Rights Protection – overview on the situation at the national level of the number of children left without parents as a result of migration and implemented measures 38

VI. Overview on the current services addressed to children whose parents left abroad to work 41

VII. Good practice examples related to the target group – Description of the project „We are your friends” developed by a school in Suceava 48

VIII. RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS 52

IX. RECOMMENDATIONS 58

X. ANNEXES: Discussion guides and description of special techniques used during the discussions with the children 61

I. INTRODUCTION

‘Home alone children’- A new social phenomenon for Romania

A market economy still insufficiently developed and the facilitation of the free

movement of people in the context of Romania‟s capacity as EU candidate country and then

as a EU Member State are two factors that have generated high levels of migration towards

the more developed countries of Europe. This phenomenon has even a larger scale in the

„poorer‟ areas of the country, with a development rate which is still very low, where finding a

job has become a major issue for the community.

At present, the North-Eastern area is the region with the lowest development rate

(GDP per capita is 5,8391, as compared to the Western region with a GDP value of 9,679. In Bucharest

GDP amounts to 16,162). Considering a low degree of development, largely due to the lower

degree of urbanization, the North-Eastern area is confronted with a major migration wave, a

phenomenon that leaves traces within those communities.

Within this context, the departure of a considerable number of people abroad, either

to look for a job or to look for a better-paid job, has left behind a great number of children

that lack the presence of their parents in the rearing and development process. The

increasing number of children with parents that have left to work abroad outlines a new

social phenomenon that Romania is now confronting.

According to the latest communication from ANPDC, an institution which has the

role to monitor this phenomenon, there are over 82,464 children left without one or both

parents following the departure of the latter to work abroad. Of them, 26,406 are children

that come from families in which both parents have left to work abroad; 47,154 are children

coming from families in which one parent has left to work abroad and 8,904 are children

that come from families whose single provider has left to work abroad. As we can see, nearly

half of the children are left at home without any of their parents (either both parents have

left, or the only provider has left). Of them, nearly 2,500 children are in the special

protection system.

1 GDP per capita, expressed in PPP US $ for 2004, Source: National Institute of Statistics

We must however mention that the identification and monitoring process initiated

and carried out by ANPDC is ongoing, more and more children being identified from one

quarter to another. We believe that the number of children whose parents have left to work

abroad is much higher than the one declared by this institution so far. We base our opinion

both on the limits and problems noticed in the territory with respect to the official

identification process and the recent study of the Soros Foundation - „Migration Effects –

The Children Left Home‟ that indicates a number twice higher of children with parents who

have left to work abroad only among secondary school pupils. This study indicates the

existence of 170,000 pupils from the V-VIII grades who have at least one parent working

abroad.

‘Home alone children’ – a phenomenon that is just starting to be studied

Starting from the fact that the legislation, through the UN Convention on the rights of the

child, as well as Law 272/2004, defends the interests of the child, we considered it necessary

to carry out a research on the situation of these children left without their parents‟ care, as it

was important to point out the needs they have in order to grow up in an environment

favourable to a normal and harmonious development. The need for a study on this target

group based on which we could act becomes even greater considering the existence of a

relatively low number of finished researches to offer a clear picture of the effects of the

parents‟ departure over the children left home and point out the „areas‟ in which protection

measures are needed.

Here are some of the studies regarding the children whose parents have left to work abroad:

1. „Home Alone”- study carried out as part of the „Home Alone” project managed by the „Social

Alternatives” Association in partnership with Iaşi County School Inspectorate, Iaşi County Police

Inspectorate and Iaşi Victim Protection and Social Reintegration Service. The study was carried out by

S.C. Introspekt SRL, research coordinator Dr. Gabriela Irimiescu.

2. ”Migration effects – children left home”, study carried out as part of a wider research programme

„Migration and Development”, programme initiated, financed and implemented by the Soros

Foundation Romania

3. „Problems of the children whose parents have left to work abroad”- study carried out at the Dunărea

de Jos University of Galaţi. Study coordinator Ass. Drd. Viorel Rotilă.

We mention that all these studies were carried out in 2007.

1. “Home alone” study2 was conducted on a limited area, in Iasi, and was aimed at

drawing attention on the emerging social phenomenon: children whose parents have

gone to work abroad. The research had two parts, a quantitative and qualitative one.

A sociological inquiry was conducted using a questionnaire on a two-stage layered

sample made of pupils aged 10 to 19 years old, from the urban area (Iasi) and rural

area (Raducaneni). The inquiry was supplemented by two focus groups with child

protection specialists from both localities.

The goal of the study was to outline a profile of the migrating family, identify the

factors underlying the parents‟ departure to work abroad, the way in which the

child/children perceive their parents‟ going abroad to work, the effects of the parents‟

departure on the children and the identification of the best ways to protect these children at

risk.

The results of the study mainly highlighted the following:

the parents that decide to work abroad are aged between 25 and 45;

the main emigration reason is the lack of money;

the share of dismembered families is higher among migrating families;

the parents‟ departure has negative effects on the children: they feel abandoned,

some of their needs are not fulfilled;

problems related to the frequency and accomplishment of school activities appear in

the case of children whose parents have left to work abroad;

in the rural environment children have more responsibilities;

the effects of emigration on children are visible: change of physical appearance,

absenteeism and school dropout, high probability to commit crimes etc.

2. „Problems of the children whose parents have left to work abroad‟3 is a study carried

out by „Dunărea de Jos‟ University of Galaţi, the Philosophy-Sociology Department.

The study was based on the application of a questionnaire to 981 pupils from Galaţi,

2 “Home alone”, Social Alternatives Association, 2006

3 „Problems of the children whose parents have left to work abroad‟, Dunărea de Jos University, Galaţi,

2007

Brăila, Iaşi and Botoşani Counties (77% pupils being from the Galaţi area). This

study was also meant to identify the determining factors that drive the parents‟

decision to leave to work abroad, to identify the children‟s attitude towards the

departure and implicitly the effects of the parents‟ departure on the children and

identify the changes that appear in the family life, respectively between children and

parents following the departure of one or both parents to work abroad. Moreover,

this study was meant to determine the changes of mentality determined by living

abroad with the parents that have left and influences exerted over the children left

home and identify the modalities in which the children whose parents are away

project their professional life.

The main conclusions of the study were the following4:

The absence of the mother in the family in a percentage almost similar to the

absence of the father (38.8% children have the mother working abroad and 38%

have the father working abroad) indicates an increased risk for the children, taking

into consideration the traditional model of the family in which mothers have the

most important role in growing up and educating children; at the same time, this is

one of the important factors that contribute to the change of the family model;

8,4 % children stated that they were left alone by the parents who left to work

abroad;

24% children stated that they talk sporadically (13%) or rarely with their parents;

44% children stated that they noticed modifications in other people‟s behaviour

towards them; among the main changes, there is the fact that the others treat them

more nicely either to protect them or to obtain gifts;

45. 67% children stated that they miss their parents very much, most of them have

their mothers away;

15.29% children believe that the relations between their parents have deteriorated;

27.42% children stated that their parents that have left to work abroad have no

intention to come back to Romania for good; 42% do not know whether their

parents will come back;

31% children want to leave abroad, 15% of which want to leave abroad to work;

4 The communicated percentages refer to the sample for this study. The sample is not representative at the

national level.

3. „Migration effects: the children left home‟5, carried out by the Soros Foundation is

the first nationwide study. The research is based on a field survey carried out on a

representative sample of 2,037 pupils from the V-VIII grades, a sub-sample of 437

pupils who have one or both parents away to work abroad.

Just like the previous studies, the research of the Soros Foundation is meant to

determine the impact of the absence of the parents that have left to work abroad on the

children left in the country and propose measures by which the negative effects can be

diminished. In this sense, the questionnaire included questions about the lifestyle, family

composition, school performances, health condition, family well-being, certain behaviours

and values.

The Soros study shows that the number of children whose parents are away to work

abroad declared by ANPDC (82,000 children) is much under-sized. The estimations of the

data of this survey reveal a double figure as compared to the official statistics, only among

the school population of the V-VIII grades (170,000 children). Of them, nearly 35,000 have

both parents abroad, 55,000 only the mother, and 80,000 have only their father abroad.

From the point of view of the geographical distribution the data shows that the regions most

affected by this phenomenon are the West of the country (Banat, Crişana, Maramureş, where

the percentage of secondary school pupils whose parents have left to work abroad is 27% of

the total number of pupils and Moldavia, where the percentage is 25%. The study also shows

that the parents‟ emigration for work has both positive and negative effects over the children

left home. The main positive effects are related to the financial well-being of the children

(improvement of living conditions, mobile phone, computer etc.). Among the negative

effects an outstanding one is the fact that the departure of one of the parents determines in

certain cases a deterioration of the child‟s relation with the parent that remains home. Other

negative effects can be found at the psychological level, at children with one or both parents

away to work abroad, where the frequency of the depression symptom is higher.

5 „Migration effects: the children left at home‟, Soros Foundation, 2007

II. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The research „Impact of parents‟ migration on children left at home‟ is meant to

point out the impact that the parents‟ departure has on the good development of the

children, the needs that these children have while their parents are away and on the basis of

the needs pointed out, to recommend and develop the most adequate types of services for

this target group.

The study is also meant to analyze the situation of the target group (of children

whose parents have left to work abroad) from the perspective of the observance of the

rights of the child guaranteed by the ON Convention for the rights of the child that was also

ratified by Romania and by Law 272/2004 on the protection and promotion of the rights of the child.

As a conclusion, the general scope of the study was to conduct an analysis as

complete as possible of the situation of the children left without parental care following the

departure of one or both parents to work abroad. Thus, in order to achieve the general

objective of the study, it evaluated:

• the family environment in which these children grow up and develop and the

relations they establish with the people taking care of them;

• the specific needs of the children whose parents have left to work abroad

and the degree these needs are covered (emotional and rational needs: food,

well-being, access to health services);

• the behavioural changes of the children following the departure of one or

both parents;

• the impact of the parents‟ departure over the learning/ education process

(focusing on the risk of school dropout);

• the degree of social participation and involvement of the children left home;

• services that the target group can turn to and the extent at which they

function and

• identification of the necessary means to limit the negative impact of this

phenomenon over the children‟s development, education and well-being.

III. METHODOLOGY

In line with the objectives proposed for this study a qualitative research was chosen,

an exploratory action being necessary in order to make a comprehensive assessment of the

needs of a child with one or both parents away to work abroad, and the extent and levels at

which he/she needs protection from the State or the civil society.

The qualitative research mainly focused on the perceptions and attitudes that these

children have over their own situation, the needs they have and their perception over the

possible solution to their problems. Because the children are the ones that feel the most

powerfully the problems they are going through, they are able to establish the priority of the

aspects that need to be solved. In order to have however a complete image on the difficulties

and obstacles that the children are confronting and the possible situations, the research was

also extended to school-masters, teachers, school counsellors and representatives of the

welfare and children right protection directions.

The methods used were focus group and interview, methods that allow the deep

investigation of the perceptions and attitudes of the investigated subjects. The discussion

guides dedicated to children and the techniques used were adapted depending on their age in

order to obtain relevant results for every age group. For the small age groups (8-12, 12-16)

several projective techniques were used (the technique of drawing, photo collage, story about a normal

day of their lives as children) in order to facilitate the communication and expression of their

own perceptions and emotions regarding the temporary or definitive absence of their parents

(the interview guides for each category and description of the methods used for children are attached to this

study).

We mention that the participation of the children to this study was volunteer, giving

special attention to the most sensitive to the problem approached, making sure that the

discussion about the lack of the parents does not harm them emotionally in any way.

The research was carried out in three locations (Suceava, Iaşi and Piatra Neamţ) –

the county seats indicated with the highest number of children with one or both parents

away to work abroad in the monitoring process carried out by ANPDC.

The structure of the interviews and focus groups for every locality was the following:

No. Investigated group Method approached No. of units

1. Children aged between 8 and 12 Focus group 2

2. Children aged between 13 and 14 Focus group 2

3. Children aged between 15 and 18 Focus group 2

4. Parents left home alone Focus group 2

5. People supporting children whose

parents are abroad

Focus group 2

6. Teachers Focus group 2

7. School counsellors In-depth interview 4

8. Representatives of DASPC In-depth interview 2

All in all, in the three locations to this study took part 60-70 pupils aged between 8

and 18, 40 people taking care of these children (either one of the parents that stayed in

Romania or other close or distant relatives, neighbours or acquaintances), 40 teachers from

both the primary and secondary school, 8 school counsellors and 6 representatives of the

social assistance directions of the town halls and county directorates for social assistance and

child right protection.

IV. RESULTS OF THE STUDY

In order to point out the extent at which the parents‟ emigration abroad has an

impact on the minors left home, the results of the survey were approached from the

perspective of the observance of the rights of the child established internationally by the UN

Convention on the rights of the child and nationally, also stipulated by Law 272/2004 on the

protection and promotion of the rights of the child. The analysis of the results of this study followed

mainly elements related to the family environment in which the children that lack their

parents‟ care are growing up and develop, element related to the health condition and well-

being by pointing out the needs that these children have, elements related to the education,

culture and leisure and last but not least, it focused on the extent at which the right to

participation, the right to non-discrimination, social inclusion and special protection

measures were observed.

‘The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on

November 20, 1989 supposed the transfer of the rights of the child from a much wider framework, included in the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights to a specific one that shortly became an important tool for governments, non-

governmental and international organizations.

With the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by Law no. 18/ 1990, Romania became

one of the first countries to adhere to its principles and provisions.

By this convention the states party of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognized that for the plenary

and harmonious of his/her personality, the child must grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness,

love and understanding, taking into account the fact that a child must be plainly ready to live independently within the

society and be educated in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed by the United Nations Charter and especially in the spirit

of peace, dignity, freedom, tolerance, equality and solidarity. In this sense the convention gives a special importance to the

family, who has the main responsibility in the care and protection of the child.

The Convention stipulates that due to their vulnerability, children need special care and protection, focusing on:

- the need for a juridical protection and protection of other nature of the child before and after birth;

- the importance of the respect for the cultural values of the child’s community;

- the vital role of international cooperation and realization of the rights of the child.’ 6

6 „Convention on the Rights of the Child”, material printed in 3,000 copies and distributed for free by the

Save the Children Organization

Therefore, by his/her nature, a child needs protection from all involved parties: the

State by the institutions or services offered in order to ensure child protection, parents

bearing most of the responsibility in this case, non-governmental institutions etc. In this

sense, it will focus on the situation of the children that are left temporarily or definitively

without parental care in order to find the most adequate modalities of action so that the

rights of this category of children are fully observed.

As a study based on qualitative data collection methods, the analysis will be able to

point out only certain phenomena or problems related to the temporary absence of the

parents, but it cannot also offer a measure of the intensity of these phenomena. The measure

of the intensity, the degree and extent of the phenomena, problems pointed out at the target

group can be the theme of a future quantitative research.

IV. 1. Right to family and protection

Any child has the right to grow up and develop in a family. The convention gives a special

importance to family, who has the main responsibility with respect to the care and protection of the

child

CDC, art. 5,18(1)-(2), 19, 20, 39

It is well-known that the family environment contributes in a positive or negative

way to a child‟s development process.

In this context it is necessary to mention firstly what the needs related to parents are,

felt acutely by children when the first are missing from home.

In the perception of both younger children and teenagers, parents represent an

emotional support in almost all activities, both school and extracurricular activities. During

the interviews with pre-teenagers and teenagers it was proved that the external motivation

coming from parents still has an important role with respect to going to school, the learning

activity, involvement in certain extracurricular activities etc.

‘(...) I mostly feel the absence of my parents when I am getting prizes, there all children come with their mom or

dad...and I see nobody, this makes me not feel like learning anymore...’

Girl, 10 years old, Suceava, both parents away to work abroad

‘I have noticed a drop in the school results, in the interest for school... ever since his mother left abroad, when his father

was away, he used to do better, his mother was taking care of him (...)!’

School-master, Iaşi

For teenagers and youngsters, parents represent the most important support in the

situations that suppose taking an important decision in their lives.

‘ I need my parents when I make a decision, because I do not know if the decision is good or not’

Girl, 18 years old, mother away to work abroad

Apart from the support gran ted, c ommunication Is another basic need felt by children whos e paren ts are abroad. Parents, especiall y mothers, are al ways close to the children, trying to commu nicate to them, be a support in s olving the problems they hav e. That‟s why most of the times, es pecially girls, feel that have nobody to commu nicate with in the absence of their mother, becoming mor e isolated and in teriori zed.

‘ Our friend was different before her mother left for Italy, she was always happy and communicative, she was speaking

to everybody, now she is more silent, more solitary...’

‘...well, now I am lodging and the lady speaks a lot about her problems, and I am bored, with mom it was different, I

could speak a lot with her about many things’

Girls, 12-16 years old, parents separated, mother away to work abroad

And last but not least, children feel the absence of their parents when they have

the burden of the household chores. Be it when they are only left with their father, be it

with a distant relative, mere landlord or alone, many of the children need to take over part of

the household activities.

The research pointed out the fact that when the parents are away to work abroad,

children are left most of the times with members of the extended family – be it with the

grandparents, be it with other distant relatives (aunt, uncle etc.). Under these circumstances,

many of the needs felt by the children, such as the ones of support, assistance,

communication and care are to a certain extent compensated/ fulfilled by them.

There are however cases in which children over a certain age, 13-14 years old, are left

alone to take care of themselves, having partially or at all support from an adult (be it

relative, neighbour or close acquaintance of his/her parents‟). In these situations, the

children in plain adolescence, apart from the fact that they take over almost all or even all

household activities and as the case may be, they also take over the activities of taking care of

younger children, do not benefit from support and assistance from an adult. As a conclusion,

among the children whose parents have left to work abroad there is a category that does not

benefit from a family environment favourable to their harmonious development by the fact

that they do not benefit from the care and protection offered by an adult, be it parent or

relative. These cases are seen in teenagers under age invested by parents with the

responsibility to take care of the household and themselves, being considered to have an age

at which they can manage by themselves, getting a constant sum of money or not.

The situation in which the teenagers remain for a period of time without the

presence of a parent, grandparent or another adult to make the household and maintenance

activities easier, to supervise, protect and support them especially affectively in their actions

is proved to have negative effects at the emotional and behavioural level. At the emotional

level, they perceive themselves as:

without hope and the certainty of a fulfilled and happy future;

without support and encouragement in any participation activity (we also include

here the participation in education);

without support in the periods considered to be decisive for them (for example

the high-school entrance examination, bachelor‟s degree exam, choosing a

faculty); most of the time, solitary wi th isol ation tendencies, l ack of d esire to communicate with the o thers.

„I felt that I needed someone to motivate me, push me somehow to do certain things; although I do not have problems at

school, I have good marks, but I feel need the need for my parents to motivate me, for example in the morning I do not

feel like going to school...I did not skip classes...but I felt the need for someone to tell me to wake up’

‘(...) I sometimes felt the need for a piece of advice from an adult’

Girl, 17 years old, Iaşi, both parents away to work abroad

‘ (...) it was very difficult when I had to take the high-school entrance examination test, I did not know what to do,

where to take it. I had whom to talk to, to my brother and I also talked to my mom and dad on the phone, but it was

more difficult on the phone’

Girl, 16 years old, Suceava, both parents away to work abroad

Of the behavioural effects, we mention a few, developing each of them in the

corresponding chapters:

school dropout (tendency seen mostly in boys);

low school participation; the research revealed the fact that absenteeism is often

seen among the teenagers left home alone without a constant supervision from

an adult;

weak isolation and communication both with the other children and with the

school-masters or teachers;

tendency of association with deviating groups, sometimes even criminality (seen

mainly among boys);

risk of drug consumption.

‘(...) we are confronting them when they have already started to commit crimes, they start consuming drugs, they start

skipping classes and when we are trying to see what the problem really is, we find out the fact that they are left without

supervision, they are home alone, their parents have left to work abroad, (...) we many times find out from the

neighbours and we go to see what the problem really is’

Reprezentat DGASPC, Neamţ

Moreover, in some cas es, the situ ation does no t seem to be wanted and accepted by the s mall ones, be it pr e-school or school children that are l eft with their old er bro thers or sis ters. Small childr en react negatively to the lack of pati ence and attention of their old er brothers.

‘If I stay here with her she does her homework, if not, she doesn’t. She gets upset when one does not always give her

attention. She no longer react to what I say anyway’

Boy, 18 year old, with a 9-year old sister that he is taking care of alone, Suceava

‘What do you do in a normal day of your life?

During school I write, I play, I sometimes do my homework...

What do you mean sometimes, why only sometimes?

Well, I get angry when I do not know how to solve a problem...

And don’t you have someone to ask for help?

No...

Couldn’t you ask your brother you are living with?

No, because he always comes home tired and has no time for me’

Girl, 9 years old, mother away to work abroad, lives only with her 18-year-old brother, Suceava

The qualitative results of this study pointed out the fact that the mentioned effects,

both at the psychic and behavioural level, can also be seen to a certain extent in children

under age that although theoretically they are taking care of by an adult, namely they live

with a grandparent or another relative, they cannot find a real support in them or even more,

they suffer from their authority. Especially among teenagers, the absence of their parents

from home is an opportunity to express their freedom, getting to the same risk situations

(school dropout, association with less socially desirable groups). This situation is seen

especially among teenagers over whom grandparents or other relatives have a very low

control level.

‘Bigger children speculate in their teenage and adventurous spirit this freedom that their parents offer them’

Representative of DGASPC, Neamţ

‘It is very difficult for me with the 16-year-old boy, they are 5 children in total...and their mother is away to earn some

money, their father does not care, the 16-year-old is the oldest and always leaves home...and if I say something he

screams and he may even slap me...I cannot seem to get along with him’

Grandmother, taking care of 3 children, Piatra Neamţ

The research also revealed the fact that the absence of an adult taking part in the

harmonious growing up and development of this category of children is not the only

problem that keeps them away from the living in an adequate family environment and in an

atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding. Children’s situation mostly depends

on the relation established between them and the people taking care of them and the

relation established between them and the parents that have left to work abroad. The

role and influence that especially the relation with the parents away has on the behaviour and

good development of the children turned out to be overwhelming. In this sense, we could

say that the leaving parent has an even greater responsibility in the relation he/she

establishes with his/her own child.

Children’s relation with the people taking temporarily care of them

The research shows the fact that the relation children establish with the people

taking care of them is very important for their good development, with visible effects in their

behaviour. For example, a good relation of understanding and communication with the

adults that are temporarily talking care of them manages to diminish the less desirable

behaviour caused by the absence of the parents.

‘ (...) they need a lot of communication, because the truth is they have nobody to communicate with...for example I was

looking at my neighbours who are grandparents and are left with two grandchildren after the parents’ departure abroad,

they said that the girl passed more easily through the drama of the parents’ departure thanks to a friend that was

coming over, they did their homework together, the grandparents gave them money to go out and have a cake. Here, my

neighbours understood the child’s needs, they were close to the children, knew how to be close to them’

Teacher, Neamţ

We shall now develop children‟s perception over the relation they have with the parent

(mother or father), grandparents, older brothers or other people they stay home with.

Children‟s perception over the established relationships shall be seconded by the perception

of the adult persons that are taking care of them.

Relation with the single parent that stays home

Significant differences were noticed between the situation in which the mother is the

one that stays with the children home and the situation in which the father is the one that

stays home while the mother leaves to work abroad. Considering the fact that in general the

mother is taking care of the household activities, her absence leaves a number of activities,

„cares‟ that must be taken over by the father and the children left home. Depending on the

children‟s age and sex, most of the times the father shares „responsibilities‟ with them. We

must mention the fact that normally the girls are the ones that take over the household

activities – cleaning, cooking, laundering – as well as taking care of their younger brothers,

whereas the boys are less burdened with these activities.

Moreover, the mother is again the one that communicates most easily and more with

the children. When she is absent, communication within the family seems to be more

difficult, at least in the beginning.

The conclusion drawn by the children, especially by girls, was that the absence of the

mother has visible effects and leaves needs uncovered to a greater extent than the absence of

the father. These needs are mainly linked to the organization of the household activities,

communication and emotional support for the children in all their activities.

‘With mom I used to talk more freely, I could even joke. I could buy women’s things, cosmetics, clothes. Dad, in

exchange, as a man, understands more difficultly, mom understood because she used to be like us’

Girl, 17 years old, Suceava, mother away to work abroad

‘ (...) dad does not understands certain things, if I tell him I like a boy he would slap me, mom is different, she used

to understand me and gave me advice, grandma does not give advice like mom used to either’

Girl, 12 years old, Iaşi, mother away to work abroad

But when the father wants it and makes an effort to ensure a family environment

favourable to the growing up and development of the children, he manages to establish a

close relationship with the children, re-establishing the balance within the family. The girls‟

perception was that in the absence of the mother they managed to create a closer and more

open relation with their father as compared to the one existing before the mother‟s

departure.

‘It was difficult, but we managed. Dad helped me all the time. He understood me with the food. Whem mom left I

could not do what mom used to do. He understood and helped me’

‘The relationship with dad changed into good ever since mom left. We used to communicate before too, but we did not

discuss about everything, only what was necessary. We now have meetings all the time’

Girl, 17 years old, Suceava, mother away to work abroad

Although the absence of the father would affect less the children, at least at the

declarative level, the research revealed the fact that his absence has negative effects both on

the emotional development and behaviour, especially in the case of boys (no matter theur

age, and visible at early ages). The boys that stayed home with their mother turned out to be

more isolated, communicated more difficultly with the others and are from the emotional

point of view very sensitive, becoming vulnerable in certain situations. These effects have

more impact when there is no relation between the fathers that are away and their children

(by phone or any other relation).

What the research showed to be very important in both absence of the mother and

the father is the level of understanding between the two parents. Differences between the

parents at distance one from each other seem to affect more the children left at home

than the absence of one of them. When only one of the parents leaves, the children suffer

with the parent left home the tension caused of the possible separation of the family.

Moreover, part of the children witnesses the separations and divorces that rise after the

departure of one or both parents to work abroad.

‘ (...) the first month was difficult for us and dad. Mom had left, we missed her, especially because there were weeks

when she could not call us. There is a certain tension laid on me and my sister. We understood what was going on, it

did not affect us as it affected dad, but it affected us. Dad was more affected, especially because he had all kinds of

thoughts, all kinds of ideas. We were trying to calm him down, all responsibility was on him now’

Girl 17 years old, Suceava, mother away to work abroad

Relation with the grandparents

Children‟s relation with the grandparents that are taking care of them while their

parents are away is very important, considering that most of the children with parents away

to work abroad remain to be taken care by them (according to the data provided by ANPDC). The

relation established with the grandparents was perceived differently depending on the age

and sex of the child. By all children however, no matter their age and sex, grandparents were

seen as having values and perceptions that were obsolete/ not adapted to modern times,

about the current lifestyles and relations with the others. This situation in children‟s

perception turns out to be most of the times a „barrier‟ in the communication and

understanding with the grandparents. In most of the cases that took part in this study, the

children, especially those aged over 11-12 believed that there is a very big distance between

them and their grandparents, the latter being less capable of finding that optimal modality to

get close to them, communicate and maintain a close relation of friendship.

The study showed that grandparents manage to communicate better with the small

ones or with the girls, who emotionally are closer to them, and worse with teenage boys on

which they no longer manage to impose themselves/ they do not manage to have an

authority or communicate in most cases. The effects of the lack of communication and

understanding can lead both to school absenteeism, abandonment or even association with

socially less desirable groups, with criminality risk.

Apart from the perception on the difference of values, children feel the need of

more active persons close to them, persons that they can play with, to whom they can

discuss more, walk and go to nature trips, go to picnics etc., needs that in most cases cannot

be covered by grandparents due both to the older age and their bad health condition.

‘ It is not the same thing to live with your grandma like it is to live with your mom and dad...

What difference do you see?

Grandma is older. I used to go to the field with my dad. Grandma cannot. That would be it.’

Focus group discussion 8-12 years old, boy, Suceava

Grandparents have also pointed out a few problems existing in their relationship

with the grandchildren they are taking care of. They feel that they have less energy and force

to:

help the children with their homework, with the assimilation and explanation of

certain knowledge taught in school, a situation due to the fact that most

grandparents have not continued their education after the primary or secondary

school. Moreover, in time, the education system has changed a lot, the level of

knowledge and information assimilated in school being a lot different;

take part with the children in different activities specific to their age: games, walks

and nature trips etc.

‘Anyway they miss their parents, with them they live differently, parents go to a picnic with them, play with them’

Grandmother, taking care of granddaughter, Suceava

‘Children talk differently with their parents and grandparents. Parents are younger, they take them somewhere, where

can grandma take him...to church and back. Children want you to take them somewhere where they can have fun. And

they want you to have money’

Grandmother, taking care of grandson, Suceava

Apart from the aforementioned ideas, most problems appear when parents stop any

contact with the children, or even more, they do (no longer) send them money for their

maintenance. In this context, considering the scarcity of money, the relation between

children and grandparents deteriorate even more. As the grandparents are pensioners, they

do not have the possibility to maintain their grandchildren in good conditions. Many times,

they are forced to use protection measures (day centres, obtaining the family placement

assistance etc).

‘ I am left with three grandchildren, my daughter left abroad, she rarely calls. I have three grandchildren that I am

taking care of, one in the 6th grade and the other two are starting school now. When I think about it, I feel like going to

the wide world’

Grandmother, taking care of three grandchildren, Suceava

‘If you knew how hard it is to wait for some money to come, when you see it is not a lot and try to make it cover all

needs and you think that maybe he is going to send you...and so the days go by, one day, one week. He phoned me one

day and said he would send me. And another week has passed by and I got ill. The other children came and gave

money so that I solved the problems. I was so disgusted. I told him <<You sentenced me, I brought up four children,

you should have left me alone at my old age so that we manage as we can>>. Once the girl asked for an ice-cream.

Well, I did not have RON 6 for an ice-cream’

Grandmother, taking care of one grandchild, Suceava

Relation wit the older brothers

The research showed that there also are cases of children under age that are taking

care of other children under age. Most of the times they either have a relative „monitoring‟

them, supervising them from the distance (he/she can help them with household activities,

keeps contact with them on the phone, etc.). But the fact that these children do not have an

adult all the time with them makes them feel insecure somehow, feel less motivated and

supported in the social participation, education etc. From the emotional point of view,

children that must live and manage on their own become more sensitive and vulnerable.

As for the relationship between brothers, if there are significant differences, the older

ones take over the roles or mother and father for the younger ones. The older brother or

sister takes care of the younger ones under all aspects (cooks for them, makes sure they go to

school, goes to parent meetings, etc.). For the older ones, it is a duty to take care of their

younger brothers, but this duty consumes a lot of their time (of their going to school,

learning, leisure, communication and friend relations etc).

Relation with distant relatives / neighbours / simple ‘landlords’

The results of the qualitative research pointed out that there are children left by their

parents with strangers (neighbours, people that used to be their landlords) in

exchange for an amount of money for lodging them. The case of a 12-year-old girl

lodging with her mom, her parents being divorced is very relevant. When her mother

decided to leave and work abroad, she left her daughter with the landlady she was

staying with. The interviewed 12-year-old girl believes that the lack of a person close

to her makes her feel very lonely and less optimistic about her future. What she

misses most is the open and close communication to an adult that motivates and

support her in her activities. There are many such cases. In all of them, children

believe that they cannot establish a very close relation of communication that makes

them feel in an environment favourable to the development of their personality.

Children’s relation with the parents that are away

We mentioned before the fact that when parents are absent, the relation established

between the parents that have left and the children left at home has a very important role in

the psychological-emotional development of the children. A close, open and honest relation

established with the children contributes on one side to the confidence they get in adults and

on the other to an optimistic vision about their own future. Thus, even if the parents are

away for a longer or shorter period of time, children do not feel completely abandoned.

The lack of communication and interest in the child during the absence determines

them to feel abandoned, alone and without many hopes for the future. The effects are visible

at the behavioural level. School-masters, teachers, grandparents near the children believe that

the lack of communication between the parents away and children left behind and of a

control from the parents leads to the appearance of visible effects on the children‟s

behaviour (isolation, pessimism, association with socially less desirable group to the

detriments of school etc.).

In general, parents keep contact with their children by phone, rarely on the Internet,

they occasionally send them parcels with clothes, toys and sweets and in some cases they

take their children to spend their holidays in their country of destination.

Over the next paragraphs we shall give examples of relations between children and

parents that have a positive effect over the children and examples of relationships and

attitudes from the parents that have a negative effect on the harmonious development of the

child. We shall this way be able to identify those good practices that contribute to the

development and maintenance of a good relationship and communication with the children.

Best practices pointed out / positive examples of relationship between

children and their parents that left to work abroad

The interviews carried out pointed out the fact that at present there are many cases

where, due to the fact that the parents have reached a certain financial stability in their

country of destination they can afford to keep a close and, very important, constant relation

with their children. Thus, they call their children pretty often, sometimes every day, trying to

establish a close relationship with them approaching the problems and difficulties they

confront in their everyday life. Moreover, some of them even inquire about their school

results keeping contact with the children‟s school-masters or teachers. All this confers to the

child the safety and protection he/she needs for a normal psychological-social development.

‘(...) now the relation with them is better, because they are also living better there now’

Girl, 17 years old, Iaşi, both parents away to work abroad

‘now that my parents have a certain stability there, they offer me a lot of moral support, they support me in my projects’

Girl, 18 years old, both parents away to work abroad

Equally i mportan t is for the par ent to establish a si ncer e commu nication i n whi ch he/she takes in to account the child‟s opinions, not to li e to him, no t to put him off, ignoring his capacity of understanding certai n situations. T he best r elati ons, bas ed on trus t, are established when the child knows clearly the situ ation h is paren ts are i n, in which the child, d epending on his/her curren t capacity, tak es par t in the decisions that his/her paren ts make concerning hi m/her.

‘(...) when I was little, mom used to call me rarely because she could not afford it, now she phones me often and we

decide it all together (...) at the beginning I lived with an aunt and then I moved with another one who had a second

child, and we could not live 5 people in two rooms and I needed freedom, so I decided with my mom that it was time for

me to rent lodge something, now I moved out and my mom gives me money for the landlord’

Girl, 17 years old, Iaşi, both parents away to work abroad

Negative examples with effects on the psychological-social development of

the children

As we also mentioned in the good practice examples, it is very important for this

communication established between children and parents to be constant. The study pointed

out that a communication that is not constant creates syncope and gaps in their relation.

Children grow this way apart from their parents, without finding support from them.

Moreover, for the current teenagers and youngsters, the lack of a constant communication

until now makes them even feel less comfortable neat their parents in case they meet again.

‘Not even my birthday is as it used to be, I do not feel any better when my mother phones me at 7:00 AM to wish me

Happy Birthday, I prefer them not to phone me at all and I have told them this and this is what they have done this

year’

Girl, 17 years old, Iaşi, both parents away to work abroad

‘(...) her mother left 5 years ago abroad and her daughter is now 10. For her it was a shock when she saw her mother

again after 4 years. Her mother did not keep contact with her at all, she was sending parcels rarely, but that was a long

time ago, it is a long time since she has sent something, not even on Alexandra’s birthday’

‘ (...) the girl is a bit solitary, I brought her up in a simple way, without pretensions, I help her as I can’

Grandmother, taking care of a 10-year-old girl, parents separated, mother away to work abroad

‘She keeps no contact with her mother, she does not even know her very well,..., she spoke with her two weeks ago on the

Internet, but she did not even know what to say to her...as for the rest, she speaks to the other aunts and uncles’

Grandmother, taking care of a 10-year-old girl, parents separated, mother away to work abroad

‘if she comes and stays for more than two months she becomes annoying...last year she stayed so much and I told her

that I am not used to seeing her around that much’

Girl, 18 years old, Suceava, mother away to work abroad

Another negativ e exampl e poin ted out is given by the situ ation i n which paren ts lie to their children, they pos tpone taking certai n decisions concerning them or do not tak e into consideration their right to take part i n the decisions concerni ng them too. Bas ed on the in terviews and group discu ssions with both childr en and grandparents, we can s ay that there are paren ts that li e constantl y to their children about the period they will spend abroad. They pr omise to come back at a cer tain d ate and do not keep their pr omise. All this determined a lower confidence in parents and adults in g eneral and children‟s opti mism dropped with r espect to the future of the family.

‘ I do not know when my mother will come back, she said she would come on Easter, but she did not come, she will

now come in August’

Girl, 10 years old, Piatra Neamţ, mother away to work abroad

‘ (...) this year I am going to see my dad in Greece, he promised to take me on holidays there ... last year he promised

too, but he finally did not take me, because he was ill...’

Boy, 12 years old, Iaşi, both parents away to work abroad

IV. 2. Right to health and well-being

Any child right has the right to well-being and have a perfect health condition, by access to health

and protection services

CDC, art. 6, 18 (3), 23, 24, 26, 27 (1)-(3), 33

As for the child‟s health condition and well-being, we can speak about the way they

are fed, the quality of their food and access to care and health services, as well as social

security and standard of living of this category of children.

The results of the qualitative research pointed out the fact that part of the children

whose parents have left to work abroad have a bad eating habit. For those that take care of

themselves it is the most difficult, they must prepare their food without anybody‟s help.

Most of them do not prepare food at home, choosing fast-food or semi-prepared food.

‘ She cooks once a week, the rest of the days we buy ready-made food’

Boy, 22 years old, lives with his 17-year-old sister, Suceava

In most cases, the teenage girls are the ones that cook, both in the cases in which

they are left only with their brothers and in the case only mother left from the household

and only the father is left with the children. Cooking becomes a problem when it overlaps

with other compulsory activities. For example, for the teenage girls whose mother is away to

work abroad, cooking for the rest of the family takes the time allocated to homework and

school or their spare time.

Another problem raised mainly by grandparents during the research was that of the

limited financial resources they dispose of in order to ensure the well-being (quality food,

access to educational resources, access to medical treatments in case they need it) of the

grandchildren left with them following their parents‟ departure abroad. We are talking about

those cases in which the parents that are away no longer keep contact with the children, not

even from the point of view of the financial support.

‘My daughter-in-law went away and left me with 5 children, I could not keep them all, I cannot afford, my pension

amounts to RON 138, I kept 3 of them and the other two are in placement with someone else...I cannot even feed

them, nothing’

Grandmother, taking care of 3 grandsons, Piatra Neamţ

‘All my pension is not enough to maintain them. They suffer from time to time, what can they do?’

Grandmother, taking care of two granddaughters, Suceava

The grandparen ts or o ther r elativ es can benefit from the financial assistance associated to the family pl acement s ervice. Bu t the remuneration for this s ervice was per ceived as too low to cov er the needs a child has.

‘The RON 80 I get to maintain the child is not even enough for food and children have many needs, especially when

they go to school, and at school they are asking for a lot of money and she needs many things’

Grandfather, with his wife, taking care of a 12-year-old granddaughter, Piatra Neamţ

Some of the people taking care of the children whose parents are away turn to day

centres for both the day food, medical care needed by the child, homework help and

guarantee of the participation in extracurricular activities. The service was appreciated by

most of them as offering safety and care to the children in case they cannot afford the

expenses and time resources necessary to the adequate care and education of the children.

The day centres were appreciated positively by children too. But there are cases of adult

persons, especially grandparents who although they admit the utility and benefits of the day

centre refuse this service due to the fact that they could lose the financial assistance coming

from the placement service. For many aged persons taking care of children this financial

assistance is an important source in their total revenues.

As for the access to health services, we cannot say that the children whose parents

have left to work abroad have a more reduced access as compared to the rest of the children.

At present, people from the rural environment are confronting a still reduced access to the

health services and their low quality. The problem raised however in terms of the health

condition of the children living without any of their parents is their care and orientation to

the health services as the case may be. We are taking here about mainly those children that

although from the formal point of view are in the care of an adult (relative or not), they

really live more independently without having contact with the adults taking care of them.

IV. 3. Right to education Children hav e the right to education. According to t he Co nvention, educatio n must focus o n the developm ent of t he perso nality and t alents of the child, prepari ng him fo r an activ e life as an adult

CDC, art. 28, 29

The results of the research pointed out the fact that especially in the case of

the children whose both parents are away to work abroad and are left either with their

grandparents or other relatives or acquaintances, the motivation to go to school and learn is

relatively low, with effects on the school frequency and results. This situation seems to be

seen both in the case of the younger ones, from the primary and secondary school and older

ones.

The drop of the interest in the learning activity in small children comes from the fact

that for them, the motivation to go to school and learn is still exterior, the parents being the

ones that motivate them and assist them in that activity. The study showed that the school

results of the younger ones (primary and secondary school) are very much influenced by the

attitude and care given to this aspect by the parents that have left to work abroad.

If the parent/ parents have a very close relationship both with the children left home

and the people taking care of them (they maintain them from the financial point of

view, communicate often and openly with them, give attention to the events in their

children‟s lives etc.), the children feel that their duty is to learn even more in order

not to let their parents down. Feeling safe and appreciated by their parents, children

manage to give great importance to school and learning activity.

If the parent does not communicate or communicates very rarely with the child left

home, he does not feel motivated at all to learn and take part in school activities.

That‟s why their results are poorer, a fact also due to their lower attention level in

general.

The people left home with them, normally their grandparents that assumed the role

of parents for them have an important role here. There are however rare cases in which the

grandparents manage to replace parents completely, the children being less affected by their

parents‟ departure with respect to the school activity. Here we are talking about especially he

cases in which the children are brought up, taken care of and assisted in all their activities by

grandparents ever since they are very young.

However, even if the grandparents have a close relation with their grandchildren and

give all the attention they need, they feel that the curricula and current learning rhythm

exceed their competences. Under these circumstances, the grandparents feel that they cannot

help the children with their homework, they cannot support them in the learning process. In

their turn, when the children have difficulties to understand the matter or solve certain

problems, feel somehow disoriented, not finding a support that motivates them to go on.

‘We can no longer help them with their homework, if only we could have some services, certain people where the children

could go and ask when they do not know something, we no longer are good at this, we should have some teachers that

could help them at least one hour a week especially in Maths and English...it is more difficult for us’

Focus group with grandparents taking care of children, Piatra Neamţ

For teenagers and youngsters the situ ation is a bi t different, they no longer need an external motivation to learn and go to school, although they can feel that some su pport from their par ents would help them get mobilized.

‘(...) I cannot wake up at 6:00 AM and sometimes I skip classes the whole day; twice a week I do not feel like going

to school; but I am good at school’

Girl, 16 years old, both parents away to work abroad

They s till feel the need of the paren ts‟ par ticipation i n the decision-making process with r espect to their futur e wi th respect to what s chool, high-school or facul ty to go to.

‘When I had to take the high-school exam I felt the need to talk more to my mom and dad, to consult with them’

Girl, 17 years old, both parents away to work abroad, Suceava

Among teenagers and youngsters again, the lack of a control and permanent support

in the school activity turned out to have negative results with respect to the importance

given to school. When they remain without their parents‟ attention, some of them abandon

school to the detriment of other activities perceived to be more motivating for them at

present: a small „business‟ of which they are making some money, association with certain

groups etc.

‘Grandparents are older, easier to ignore and that’s why me and my brother finally abandoned school. 6 months ago a

lady from the Town Hall called and came to see how we were getting along and told us that we would better go back to

school’

Boy, 16 years old, both parents away to work abroad, no longer keeps contact with any of them, Iaşi

The interviews with teachers, representatives of town halls and welfare and child

protection directions pointed out that there are measures taken at the local level and within

the directions in order to prevent school dropout. The school notifies either the Town Hall,

or the Welfare Direction on each case of school dropout or high risk cases. These cases are

then verified and they are trying to get the children under age that abandoned school back to

continue their school activity.

But in order to prevent the situations of school dropout, absenteeism or lower

results, the research revealed the fact that in schools/high-schools there is not a clear system

meant to approach these cases yet, as an answer to the new phenomenon. There are

however various initiatives of the teachers especially, motivated by the fact that they are

closer to their pupils. They try to speak to the child at which they notice a drop of interest in

school, with the child that has the tendency to isolate himself from the others etc. Moreover,

depending on the possibilities, teachers also contact the adults taking care of these children.

In some schools, both some of the school-masters and teachers give part of their time

helping with the homework the children asking for it or the ones that get lower results. But

we cannot yet say that this is a practice that we meet regularly.

Another problem raised especially by teachers and representatives of the welfare

directions and departments at the local level is the lack of a school counsellor from most

schools. At present, theoretically there is one school counsellor for 800 pupils, practically

very few pupils benefit from the constant activity of a school counsellor. According to the

teachers, they would manage better to communicate and solve the problem of the children in

these situations.

Both school-masters and teachers believe that the extracurricular activities could

contribute positively to motivating the child for the educational programme, especially of the

younger ones of the primary and secondary school. Nature trips, to the mountains, to parks,

visiting museums, sports contests or other kinds of contests are activities that make children

have a positive attitude towards school. But the lack of funds and extra hours given to

teachers for these activities limit to a great extent the realization and carrying out of

extracurricular activities.

IV. 4. Right to opinion and participation

Any child has the right to express freely his/her opinion regarding any problem or procedure

concerning him/her, and his opinion must be taken into consideration with respect, depending on

his/her degree of maturity

CDC, art. 12, 13, 15, 17

The research revealed the fact that the right to participation and opinion regarding

the decisions that also affect and concern the child are observed by parents only to a small

extent. Parents start informing their children about the decisions made only after a certain

age of the child, normally around 16-18. We could say that only close to maturity, close to

the age of 18, the parent starts to take into account what his/her own child believes and

feels. The explanation of this fact is found in the „protective‟ type culture. Parents believe

that they know what is „good‟ or „bad‟ for their own child, being less receptive and attentive

to what the child might think and say. In this sense, most interviewed children, of different

ages, did not take part in the decision made by the parent/parents to leave and work abroad.

Most of the young ones, 8-12 years old, were not only announced about the departure after

the departure had taken place.

‘When my mother left I was sleeping, she did not even say she was leaving...

And why did she leave?

I don’t know’

Focus group discussion 8-12 years old, one or both parents abroad, boy, Suceava

The interviews and group discussions with the teenagers pointed out certain good

with respect to the granting of the right to take part in the decision concerning them. There

are families, very few however, in which the departure of one or both parents was discussed

within the family with the children that took part in the decision made.

As a conclusion, the idea to involve the child, depending on his/her maturity,

in making a decision concerning himself/herself was for him another motivation to

make greater efforts in order to adapt to the subsequent situation, the absence of the

parents.

IV. 5. Right to spare time, leisure and cultural activities

The child has the right to spare time, leisure and engaging in cultural and artistic activities adequate

to his/her age

CDC, art. 31

The way in which the children whose parents have left to work abroad spend their

spare time is very varied and depends mostly on the situation they have in the family. For the

cases in which the mother is away from home, part of the household activities are taken over

by the children, both girls and boys, occupying their spare time. This happens more when we

are talking about a household in the rural environment, where there are much more activities

necessary to take care of the household than in the urban environment.

‘How were these two years without your mother? Was it more difficult? Was it easier?

Much more difficult. We had to do things she was doing

What exactly? How were her jobs distributed?

My brother and I cleaned and cooked

And can you cook?

Yes, we knew from our mom’

Two brothers, 12 and 7 years old, mother away to work abroad, Pătrăuţi, Suceava County

There are cases in which almost all the children‟s spare time is occupied with

household activities, becoming a burden for them to replace temporarily their parents in

household maintenance. For some children the situation is the same if they live with their

grandparents.

‘Until now I have lived with Grandma, but I don’t like it there.

Why don’t you like it at Grandma’s?

Because she used to make me work all day, she did not let me alone at all, she would tell me to sweep the courtyard,

wash the dishes, clean the cooker, cook polenta, potatoes’

Girl, 9 years old, parents separated, mother away to work abroad, Suceava.

But for most children living with their grandparents the situation was better in the

sense that the grandparents participate in most of the household activities, giving the

children the possibility to spend their spare time as they wish. The problem raised by the

children living with their grandparents regarding their spare time is the absence of the latter‟s

availability for certain activities that suppose more movement and energy, as their parents

who are younger have. Moreover, the possibilities to spend their spare time with their

grandparents are much reduced, grandparents do not go on trips, they do not go picnic, they

do not go fishing, activities preferred by most children, especially the younger ones.

As for the existing opportunities and possibilities to spend their spare time, they

were perceived by children as being relatively reduced both in the rural and urban

environment. They believe that there are not many places where they could meet children of

their age. Among the most frequent modalities to spend spare time, the children enumerated

the following ones: watching certain TV programmes, computer games, Internet browsing,

going out with friends.

IV. 6. Right to non-discrimination/ Social inclusion

All children, no matter their ethnic origin, religion, financial situation, health etc. must enjoy all the

rights, the State having the obligation to protect children against all discrimination forms. The State

must observe the rights of the child and carry out positive actions to promote them.

Taking into consideration the fact that one of the fundamental rights of the child is

non-discrimination, the research also took into account this aspect. It was meant to

point out the way these children feel they are treated and moreover, the way they are

seen in society, by the image promoted by the mass-media and possible impact over

them.

The results of the qualitative study have pointed out the fact that we cannot talk

about negative discrimination in the case of this category of children; the children whose

parents have left to work abroad feel and have been perceived as treated the same way as the

rest of the children by both the people that are taking care of them and the teachers, there

isn‟t a negative attitude towards them. We can even say that right now there is a special care

and attention given to this category of children, the mass media broadcasting widely the

particular situations that some of these children are in. That‟s why, in the opinion of some of

the participants in the study, a special attention is required for the distinction between

children whose parents have left to work abroad and children who have their parents with

them in order not to disfavour the latter in any way limiting their access to certain services

and/or participation in certain activities. There are cases in which in certain schools

organized activities only with children who have one or both parents away to work abroad,

raising questions and discontent among the other children in school.

As for the image these children have in society, especially the image promoted by the

mass-media, some aspects must be mentioned. At present the mass-media focuses especially

on the negative emotional effects over children, on the way they suffer from the absence of

their parents, on their disadvantaged situation, which on one side draws the authorities‟

attention towards this category but at the same time stigmatizes all children in that situation.

The recommendations of the participants in the study were meant to complete this

promoted image by giving more attention to the solutions for this category of children, to all

available services that both the children and the people taking care of them can turn to. It is

therefore necessary for the mass-media to become an information resource that promotes

the cases of good practices that can represent a source of inspiration for everybody

interested in the situation of these children – parents, teachers, people taking care of the

children whose parents have left to work abroad, public services or non-governmental

organization specialists. Even more, it would be necessary to promote the way in which all

the rights of these children are observed.

V. National Authority for Child Rights Protection – overview on the situation at the national level of the number of children left without parents as a result of migration and implemented measures

This chapter represents the position of ANPDC, being drawn up by Mrs. Elena Tudor,

of the Children Rights Monitoring Direction, ANPDC

At the local level, the responsibility of the identification and support of those social

cases concerning children whose parents have left to work abroad corresponds to the Public

Welfare Services that according to the provisions of art. 33 of Law 47/2006 are the ones that

identify the social needs of the community and solve them according to the law.

Under these circumstances, the adoption of measures meant to help for a better

quantification of the number of families affected by the departure to work abroad and

children left in the country to be taken care of relatives or other people or in the services

offered by the special protection system, at the same time with the identification of the

solutions meant to develop and diversify the services that will be offered to children

depending on the particularity of each case was decided.

The National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child has showed a

continuous and constant preoccupation for the management of this phenomenon, taking a

series of measures meant to allow both its better monitoring and the implementation of

measures meant to limit or attenuate the negative effects that the absence of one or both

parents from the life of a child can generate.

The State Secretary of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the

Child elaborated this way the Order 219/2006 on the activities of identification, intervention

and monitoring of children that lack the care of their parents while the latter are working

abroad.

The purpose of the adoption of such a normative act was to render responsible the

institutions that have attributions in the domain of protection of the right of the child and

involve them actively in identifying the children whose parents have left to work abroad and

offer support services for them, namely the Public Welfare Services existing in each

administrative-territorial unit and the General Welfare and Child Protection Directions in

every county/district.

On the other hand the measure of the compulsoriness to notify the Public Welfare

Services/ residence Town Hall by the Romanian citizens supporting children that want to

obtain a contract to work abroad, as well as the nomination of the person that will take care

and support the children was introduced.

The purpose of the introduction of this measure with a character of novelty was to

allow in a clear and transparent manner the monitoring at the local and central authorities of

the exact situation of the number of children left in the country that are being taken care of

by relatives or other people, after their parents left to work abroad. The same order also

proposed the model of a new tool of reporting and registering the transmitted cases, the

National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child.

The centralization of the data reported according to the aforementioned order

turned out not to reflect the real situation of the number of children whose parents have left

to work abroad, as the aforementioned Order referred only to the parents who are taking

care of children under age and want to obtain a contract to work abroad. On 30.09.2006 the

number of children reported by the Public Welfare Services was very low, 20,945 children, as

compared to the number of people that left to work abroad.

In the line of a continuous adoption of measures meant to identify the needs of the

children whose parents have left to work abroad, ANPDC has decided to extend the

monitoring of these children including in one of the monitoring tools – the Quarterly

Monitoring Fiche – a separate chapter dedicated to this category. The centralized data is

more detailed, the Public Welfare Services reporting this way separately the number of

children who have both parents working abroad, one parent or the single supporting parent.

The Quarterly Monitoring Fiche is transmitted to our institution by each of the 47

DGASPCs in the country, after centralizing the data transmitted from the local level. We can

see this way at the central level what is the distribution of this phenomenon from the point

of view of the most affected geographical areas.

Unfortunately the efficiency of this measure could still not be quantified at its true

value due to the fact that many of the town halls belonging to different administrative-

territorial units all over the country, through the Public Welfare Services did not transmit the

requested data (at the first reporting afferent to the month of September 2006, over 750 of

the administrative-territorial units did not transmit this data) although these structures in the

town halls belonging to all communes/towns/municipalities are habilitated to get involved

actively in the monitoring and analysis of the children‟s situation, including that of the

children whose parents are away to work abroad. Their lack of cooperation leads to the

impossibility to get an accurate image of this phenomenon that allows ANPDC to evaluate

the situation at the national level and propose measures meant to ensure the observance of

these children‟s rights.

After the decentralization of the data within the National Authority for the

Protection of the Rights of the Child we found that at the end of June 2007, over 82,000

children whose parents had left to work abroad were identified, of which over 35,000 had

both parents or single supporting parent, this representing the number of identified children,

without being able to state what the real number is.

Of the total number of children left home over 77,800 were taken cared of by

relatives, without having an established special protection measure and only nearly 2,400

were in the special protection system.

Again in the line of the measures taken by the National Authority for the Protection

of the Rights of the Child to support children whose parents have left to work abroad, a

National Interest Programme dedicated to this category of beneficiaries – „Development of

the community social service network for children and family and support to families in

crisis in order to prevent the separation of the child from his/her family‟ was approved for

2007 (Resolution no. 633/2007).

The objective of the implementation of this programme is to diversify and develop

the already-created day services, especially the day centres, as well as facilitate the access of as

many children whose parents have left to work abroad as possible to these services.

VI. Overview on the current services addressed to children

whose parents left abroad to work

In this chapter, we aim at making a short assessment of the way the activity to

identify and monitor the children with one or both parents left abroad to work is perceived

and achieved at the level of the units performing this activity, while identifying the services

developed within the public institutions where children and those who support them may

refer to.

Following the qualitative interviews with the persons who support the children

whose parents left abroad to work and with representatives of DGASPC and public social

assistance services, it may be concluded that there is currently no monitoring system for this

category of children, which is perfectly functional and offers concrete results with regard to

the control and reduction of the negative consequences caused by the parents‟ absence. We

cannot say yet that we have a clear and reality-based estimation of the number of children

with parents left abroad to work. Furthermore, we are still in the process of assessing the

dimensions of this new phenomenon with an aim to develop services according to the

current needs of the children and their parents. However, it can be said that the process of

cases identification and monitoring, initiated and developed by ANPDC, is being perfected

from one reported case to another, more and more children in this situation being identified.

Within the current context, the monitoring is achieved by the local authorities, based

on the lists and situations received from the schools at the beginning of each school year or

semester, depending on the case. This identification method by means of schools has proven

to be efficient, considering that the schools are the institutions which have the closest

contact with the children, with only one limitation: it is offered only the image of children

above 6 years of age, when they start school, while a large category of children remains

under anonymity, including the children who abandon school.

„There are still certain obstacles, for example the real number of children who are left without parents may not be

quantified, not all the cases may be identified and implicitly we cannot know where the children under school age are left

and in whose care, because the evidence of the children registered in schools is being kept at the school level, this is where

it is being recorded whether their parents have left, whom they were left with, whether they are missing from school, the

cases of school dropout…. But for the little ones there is still no operating monitoring system”

„ (...) Cases monitoring can be achieved more easily in small communes, as they know each other there and it is easier

for the local communities to monitor them, but in the cities, and especially large cities, the monitoring is made through

notifications from the neighbours and through the collaboration with the schools, which send lists with the situation of

children whose parents are left abroad to work...”

Representative of DGASPC Neamţ

In rural areas, although the identification seems easier, smaller communities being

involved, it encounters difficulties due to the lack of specialized social assistants and the

resources necessary to perform this activity under optimum conditions.

The local authorities have the duty to identify and assess the situation of each child

left at home without one or both parents. The plan is that, following the assessment, the

needs of the respective family, the children‟s and of those who support them would be

established and, depending on these needs, they would be directed towards various services

in order to prevent any risk situation. For the cases where an intervention is considered

necessary, either through counselling services, or special measures applied, the collaboration

with the Social Assistance and Child Protection Directorate is developed. For the more

serious cases which require a special protection measure, the Directorate‟s role increases.

„We try to enforce Order 219 according to which our role is to make an initial assessment of these children, to identify

them, for how many of them a special protection measure has been established, under which form they were left by their

parents in the care of other persons. There are cases when the parents establish a legal empowerment, there are situations

when, following discussions, it rests with some persons more or less alien to the family to take care of the children. We

draw up an initial assessment report for each child in this situation. In the event that the assessment report recommends

family counselling, we try to collaborate with the Child Protection in order to provide services as complex as possible”

Representative of SPAS Suceava

„Firstly, the mayoralty, the local authorities are bound to assess, draw up a service plan and, in the event that,

according to the service plan, the establishment of a protection measure is proposed and required, we are bound to notify

the Child Protection Commission.

And what does that mean?

If the child is in a placement situation, the moment we are notified that the child is left in the care of a person who can

no longer be responsible of him/her, we can under no circumstance keep the placement with that respective person. The

child consequently enters the system of maternal assistance or the strictly residential system.

Does it happen often that a child whose parents are left abroad to work is in this situation?

Nevertheless, I believe that most children are left with persons who assume some responsibilities and take care of them.

We act only in the cases when this does not happen”

Representative of DGASPC Neamţ

A very important aspect is that, at the institutional level, the collaboration between

the public institutions is established and developed in order to better meet the needs and

issues of the community. For example, in order to prevent school dropout, the schools

communicate and notify the DGASPCs or SPASs. Regardless of the place where the

notification is made, the collaboration is also developed by means of the specialized service

at the level of the social assistance directorate, house visits are carried out etc.

„ For example, we receive notification from a school regarding a certain pupil whose situation is disastrous from the

viewpoint of absences, school situation and whose parents are left abroad to work … we are told to take measures in

order to prevent school dropout. In such situations, given the fact that the Social Assistance and Child Protection

Directorate has a specialized service, we contact them. There are many cases when we collaborate, cases when only they

interfere and cases when we alone interfere, depending on where the notification arrives and its nature. Nevertheless, we

always notify the Directorate as well, it is possible that they have already been notified and have already taken

measures”

Representative of SPAS, Suceava

A series of issues in working with this category of children has also been mentioned

with regard to the judicial aspect of the situation of a child who is temporarily left without

parents – the legal representatives of the child. For example, the Social Assistance and Child

Protection Directorate reports the absence of a legal representative of the child who is left at

home in the care of other persons than the parents.

„ Furthermore, if the child lives with his/her grandmother, even though there exists a legal act, we cannot say that she

represents the child. She represents him/her regarding the management of goods, but if something happens with the

child, i.e. if he/she steals or does something else, he/she does not even have a legal representative. That is also a

problem”

Representative of DGASPC Iaşi

Services that may currently be referred to:

Based on the discussions with the representatives of the social assistance directorates

and public services, several services were identified within the public system to which the

target public may refer to

Counselling and orientation services, either provided by the social assistant at

the place of domicile of the children and those who support them or within

the local council, at the “Counselling service for children and family”

“Day care”-type services to which it can be appealed for various reasons:

either material if the grandparents or other persons who take care of

these children cannot afford the children‟s full or partial support;

either time-related, especially in the case of families where the parent who

remained at home or the grandparents are still employed;

either to acknowledge the need to get help with the children‟s education,

there are many grandparents who appeal to day-care centres because they

do not have the availability to help the children with home-works and in

the learning process etc.;

In the event of some protection measures, the establishment of guardian

services (subsidiary and temporary means of protection for the child) for the

situations where it was found that the parents no longer maintain contact

with the children.

„The services currently addressed to this category are the services of identification-assessment-counselling, parental courses

and day-care centres…we shall develop a strategy in the future”

Representative of SPAS Suceava

(...) we go to the family, some discussion meetings are established, provided that there is also a desire from their part.

The social assistant is very important, as are his/her abilities to make the family to want these things. Then you should

try to discuss about the child’s life, his/her problems, how they can be solved, leaving it to the family to take the decision

they consider right”

Representative of SPAS Suceava

„The counselling service would be the most important...we have now also a mobile team including a psychologist and a

social assistant who go from centre to centre”

„As a complementary service for the children who stay with their grandparents with reduced possibilities is the day-care

centre service. Children are provided there with food, supervision, assistance with their home-works, etc.”

Representative of DGASPC Neamţ

„There are the day-care centres, most of the children who go to day-care centres are in this situation. Their parents are

abroad and they were left at home with their grandparents. Communication problems appear. A faulty communication

has consequences both on the children and on those who take care of them. At the day-care centres, the children are

provided with food, help with their home-works, possibility to communicate with each other and those who work there

and assist them. They can also talk with a psychologist counsellor”

„As protection measures, there are children for which we have established guardian services for the situations in which it

was found that the parents no longer maintain contact with the children, no longer send money at home and nobody

knows anything about them”

Representative of SPAS Suceava

Proposals/ Solutions foreseen at the level of Directorates and local Authorities

Both at the level of the DGASPCs and SPASs of the three counties included in this

research, the following solutions for the children whose parents left abroad to work were

identified, some of them being applied at the level of the institutions they belong to, others

being still at the project stage and others related to other institutions:

Awareness campaigns for the risks related to the children who are left at

home without parental care, targeting both parents and the community;

Courses and seminaries of parental education organized periodically at the

local councils level;

Existence of a school counsellor for each school, so that they could monitor

and give counselling to all the children who have issues related to

communication, behaviour, lowered school results, absenteeism etc.;

Involvement to the largest extent of NGOs in providing concrete services

aiming this category of children;

Development of more children‟s clubs with an aim to offer them beneficial

ways to spend their free time.

„We can develop awareness campaigns, not only for parents, but for the whole community, i.e. for everybody, including

those who do not have children in this situation, but it is important to know how they can behave with the children of

their neighbour who left abroad to work”

„For example, we have established a club, if I am not mistaken through Save the Children, in a rather large commune;

it is a club for the children who benefit from maternal assistance, it is a commune where there are many children in

maternal assistance. The system works perfectly, there are courses attended by these children… I was thinking that such

a club may also be established for the children in this category, with parents left abroad to work. However, the other

children already feel it as a discrimination, as they themselves do not have entertainment, play clubs, etc.”

Representative of DGASPC Neamţ

„We’ve organized parental education courses and received positive feedback from the participants. We realized that the

communication desire exists, we realized that the grandparents and aunts feel overwhelmed with this role they took over

more or less aware of. They agreed without knowing what will come. We try to make these persons become aware of the

fact that there are methods available to everybody in order to efficiently communicate and remove the stress related to the

fact that they have additional responsibilities, so that the child can benefit as well, but also these persons who are of good

faith most of the times, who want to do something, but they do not always have the necessary methods available, even

though they are very simple”

„These parental education courses started based on the findings on the field, on the children’s needs which were notified”

„We would continue with the parental education courses, as we saw they were useful. Some of the meetings may also be

attended by the children. Closeness is then achieved between them and those who take care of them in order to better

understand each other, to switch places. We even had role-plays.”

„Furthermore, it should be discussed with the parents in the following way: what do they gain if they stay?, what do they

gain if they leave?, what do they lose if they stay?, what do they lose if they leave? It’s a SWOT analysis where threats

and opportunities need to be considered”

„There is a plan for each school to have a school counsellor. The school counsellors should identify the children who have

problems and notify it. We also try a partnership with them in this regard”

Representative of SPAS Suceava

„ I would involve the NGOs for these children, because the institutions have extraordinarily vast cases. The NGOs

can make more interventions than we do”

Representative of DGASPC Iaşi

VII. Good practice examples related to the target group – Description

of the project „We are your friends” developed by a school in

Suceava

The project was initiated by Mrs. Carmen Mihaela Plăcintă

and coordinated together with Mrs. Lucica Cosovan and

Mrs. Dorica Cîmpan

During the school year 2006/ 2007 the school with 1st-8th grades „Miron Costin”

from Suceava developed the project „We are your friends” within the educational

programme for children‟s rights and promotion of equal opportunities. The project‟s target

group were children whose parents left abroad to work and aimed to identify the cognitive

and socially emotional needs of this category of children.

This initiative of the educators was based on the fact that there were 234 pupils in

that school whose parents were left abroad to work, out of which 88 were in the 1st-4th

grades during the school year 2006-2007. Starting from their own observations on the

attitude and behaviour of the children who had parents left abroad to work, on their school

results and the needs they manifested, the educators initiated the project “We are your

Friends”, aiming to support and tackle some of the issues faced by the children who

temporarily lack the parental care. The main purpose was to partially replace the lack of the

children‟s family.

The project was developed during the school year 2006/ 2007 only for the pupils

from 1st to 4th grades, following to be extended to the gymnasium cycle after the assessments

made at the end of the school year 2007/ 2008.

The objectives set by the educators from „Miron Costin” school were the following:

Offer assistance and support in preparing their home-works;

Offer support to this category of children in their learning process by means of

certain additional activities: tutoring them in various subjects in order to avoid failure

or having to repeat the year;

Increase the cooperation between these children and the educators;

Develop the children‟s communication abilities;

Identify the children‟s passions and concerns with a view to orientating them

towards their achievement;

Develop and encourage the manifestation of the personal qualities of each child

involved in the project;

Increase the degree of information and education related to the rights and

responsibilities of the children whose parents are left abroad;

Reduce the risk of being exploited through work by the relatives or neighbours in

whose care the children have been left;

Increase the degree of participation in the decisions that concern the child directly;

Establish sports clubs where they could spend their free time.

All these objectives materialized in various activities, carried out 2-3 times a month,

activities which consisted in:

Counselling children on self-knowledge topics aiming to discover their personal

qualities and valorise them;

Performing various practical works (which were subsequently sent to the parents on

certain occasions) aiming to develop the children‟s imagination and creativity;

Discussions and debates aiming to identify the expectations, needs and desires that

children have from the others;

Discussions, debates and practical activities aiming to teach the children how to

organize their time;

Discussions and debates related to their motivation to learn;

Preparing home-works in an assisted way;

Contests with prizes;

Meetings with health-care staff and Community Police officers from Suceava, aiming

to discourage school dropout, juvenile delinquency and the risk of exploitation

through work;

The educators who volunteered in this educational project managed to arouse

children‟s interest by offering them sweets, leaflets, information about the current events,

mascots, flags, etc. Also, all the members of the project drew up psycho-pedagogical

characterization sheets with a view to fully knowing the psycho-pedagogical profile and the

required measures in this regard.

Furthermore, the project‟s coordinators organized with part of the children

registered in the project a trip in Bistriţa Năsăud and Maramureş counties, which offered the

children the possibility to socialize and spend their free time in a pleasant way, desired by

most of them.

Within this project, it was also established the need to counsel the adults who take

care of the children whose parents left abroad to work. Monthly working groups were

organized to be attended by both the parents who remained in the country and those who

take care of the children. They attended training courses on:

the family‟s role and importance in the education and early development of the child;

the support methods in early intervention;

the analysis of parental styles promoted by the children‟s parents or supervisors in

the relationships with them;

the awareness of the risks that the children whose parents left abroad to work are

subject to;

identifying the solutions to the adjustment problems of children etc.

The project developed in other schools as well, in partnership with the Ministry of

Education, Research and Youth, the County Inspectorate of Suceava, the Association of the

Educators from Suceava, the Mayoralty of Suceava and other institutions involved in

children‟s education.

The project‟s results were disseminated by means of a set of leaflets and posters,

mass-media, articles published in the local and national press, on the Internet on school sites

and also on the discussion group www.didactic.ro/forum.

The project was developed through the voluntary involvement of the educators,

pupils, those who take care of the children from the target group. Moreover, this project

benefited from the voluntary involvement of museology specialists, librarians, civil servants

and medical staff.

Even though the assessment of this program is to be made after the end of the

school year 2007/2008, it may be mentioned that the project was received with interest and

openness especially by the pupils, but also by those who temporarily take care of them.

It should also be mentioned the limitation of this project, i.e. the fact that it

addresses only the children whose parents are left abroad to work, differentiating thus

between the children who live with their parents and the children who temporarily lack

parental care. These differences were felt by the children who did not participate in the

project, especially also because of the fact that few extracurricular activities are usually

performed in school, on the grounds of lack of resources (human and material).

Beyond this limitation, it should be appreciated the initiative of these educators who

voluntarily initiated and developed this project, as an answer to the increased number of

children temporarily or permanently deprived of parental care and to the issues related

because of it.

VIII. RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS

The right to family and protection

In this chapter, the research aimed to emphasize the main elements contributing to

ensuring a proper family environment for the children‟s harmonious development in well

conditions. The family context, the persons whom the children are left to live with and the

relationships established with these persons have proven to be essential. Also, the

relationship that the parents who left succeed to establish and maintain with their children at

home was emphasized as having an overwhelming role in the attitude and behaviour that the

child will adopt during their absence.

The following aspects were emphasized:

The mother‟s absence is more often and more intense felt by the majority of the

target group, both due to the fact that she is the one who handles most of the

housework, which, in her absence, remains the children‟s responsibility, and to the

fact that mothers usually manage to build a close relationship and an open

communication with the children;

One aspect which was highlighted as being very important is the communication and

understanding established between the children and the adults they live with. Mainly

the teenagers feel the need for constant and close communication with a parent or a

relative where they could find the support they need if they have to make certain

decisions considered very important in their life;

Communication problems appear especially between children and grandparents,

perceived as being caused by the large difference between the value systems adopted

by each of them, the different lifestyles and the reduced capacity of the elderly to

adapt to the new social values, modern lifestyles, which are close to the youth;

The communication problems appeared seem to be more serious in the case of

young teenagers who, in general, cannot be controlled by the grandparents;

Teenage-girls seem to adapt more easily to the relationship with the grandparents,

but they perceive the need to have a closer and more open communication with

them, as they had with their mothers;

The relationships that the parents who left establish with the children at home was

perceived by the children and those who are left to take care of them as having a

major importance in the children‟s attitude and behaviour: a close, constant, trust

and sincerity-based relationship help the children in accepting their absence more

easily, continuing to be involved in the social life and having a desirable social

behaviour, while the absence of a relationship with the parents proved to have

isolation effects, lack of self-confidence, decrease of school results, absenteeism and

even school-abandonment, lack of involvement and participation to extracurricular

activities, leading even to undesirable social behaviours and attitudes (breaking of the

law, violence etc.).

The results of the qualitative research reveal the fact that there is a category of

minors who are not under the direct supervision of an adult (parent, relative or

acquaintance) and therefore, they do not benefit from a proper family environment for their

normal psychological and emotional development. They are generally over 13-14 years of age

and being considered as almost adults, they are left by their parents on their own, without

grandparents or other relatives. It was emphasized the fact that the risk of school dropout,

breaking the law, drug use are higher for this category of children.

The right to health and well-being

With regard to food, personal care and health of the children who have one or both

parents left abroad to work, the qualitative research revealed the following

Part of the children in this situation proved to eat less healthily. In this

situation are:

• teenagers who are left alone without the direct supervision of an

adult – they cannot prepare a proper meal on a daily basis;

• children of various ages who are left in the care of the grandparents

and who maintain no sort of contact with the parents – they do not

benefit from enough financial resources needed for food and good

health;

Food preparation falls most of the times in the responsibility of the teenage-

girls, young girls, an activity which consumes their time for school and home-

works preparation, as well as their free time (an aspect approached in more

details in the chapter related to free time);

No difference was observed between the state of health of the children

whose parents are at home and the children who do not live with their

parents, but a risk situation is perceived for the latter, on the grounds of a

lower attention on them from the part of the parents.

Mainly, the children who are left without both parents as a result of the migration for

a workplace present to a greater extent the following needs:

Access to quality food through proper preparation hereof on a daily basis;

Access to quality food through ensuring the appropriate financial needs;

The need for primary medical care and orientation to the appropriate medical

services;

Ensuring the access to medical services.

“Day-care centre”-type services were perceived as being very useful both by the

adults and the children and moreover, they were considered as replacing to a great extent the

absence of parents in ensuring the children‟s care.

The right to education

With regard to the education, the results of the focus-groups and the interviews

highlighted the following aspects:

There is a tendency for school dropout among the teenagers, especially boys, whose

parents are left abroad to work;

The tendency for absenteeism is manifested also among the teenagers, both girls and

boys. There are cases of youngsters whose parents are left abroad to work who

accumulate many absences from school, being even on the edge of being expelled;

Absenteeism may appear in certain situations even to the small children from

primary and gymnasium cycles;

A lack of interest for school and home-works is observed in the case of both small

and older children, on the background of a lack of control from an adult with

authority on them;

Small children and sometimes teenagers face difficulties in doing their home-works

and understanding the subjects at school, feeling the need for help from an adult

who may get involved in this activity/ who would assist them in the parents‟

absence;

In the families where the mother is the one who left, the girls spend a large part of

their time with household activities, sometimes in the detriment of school schedule

and home-works preparation;

At the school level, there still lacks a clear system to approach the children whose

parents are left and who manifest a decrease of their motivation for school. Only in

the cases of school dropout does the educational institution announce either the

child protection directorates or the social assistance services/departments within the

mayoralties;

The existence of extracurricular programmes and activities proved to have a positive

impact on the children with regard to their motivation to come to school. This

attitude, behaviour, can be observed especially in children from primary and

gymnasium cycles.

The right to opinion and participation

The child, regardless of his/her age, is granted to a small extent the right to

participate in the parents‟ decision to leave abroad to work;

The small children, up to 12-13 years of age, are not only excluded from being

consulted with regard to the parents‟ decision to leave home for a given period of

time, but most of the times they are not even informed about the leave, until the

moment it happens;

The child feels the lack of both information and participation in the decision in a

negative way, with consequences on the attitude and behaviour developed in the

parents‟ absence from home.

The right to spare time, leisure and cultural activities

Children who come from families where the mother is left have more household

activities, which consume their free time;

In the rural areas, the share of the household activities is much higher, which is why

the children‟s free time is more reduced;

The possibilities to spend their free time with the grandparents are reduced due to

lack of their availability, on the one side for the playing activity and on the other side

for the activities which involve movement, such as picnics, trips etc.

The possibilities to spend their free time were perceived by children as being reduced

in general, both in urban and in rural areas.

The right to non-discrimination / social inclusion

We cannot talk about negative discrimination of children whose parents are left

abroad to work; there is rather the tendency to protect this category of children in

society;

The focus at the social level and in the mass-media is rather laid on the suffering and

disadvantaged situation of these children and less on the way in which their rights are

observed or on the solutions to their problems, the concrete services that they can

access; In this context, the children feel rather as “victims”, increasing thus the

negative effects of their parents‟ absence from home.

Public social assistance services that the target group may currently refer to:

Based on the discussions with the representatives of the social assistance directorates

and public services, several services were identified within the public system where the target

group may refer to

Counselling and orientation services, either provided by the social assistant at

the place of domicile of the children and those who support them or within

the local council, at the “Counselling service for children and family”

“Day care”-type services to which it can be appealed for various reasons:

either material if the grandparents or other persons who take care of

these children cannot afford the children‟s full or partial support;

either time-related, especially in the case of families where the parent who

remained at home or the grandparents are still employed;

either to acknowledge the need to get help with the children‟s education,

there are many grandparents who appeal to day-care centres because they

do not have the availability to help the children with home-works and the

in learning process etc.;

In the event of some protection measures, the establishment of guardian

services for the situations where it was found that the parents no longer

maintain contact with the children.

IX. RECOMMENDATIONS

The recommendations presented at the end of this research were identified and

formulated together with the representatives of the main institutions in charge to promote

and enforce the children‟s rights, starting from the analysis of the qualitative research

conducted. Thus, Save the Children invited to a round table the representatives of ANPDC,

MoERY, DGASPC and SPAS as well as school inspectors from Bucharest and the three

locations where the qualitative research was conducted: Iaşi, Suceava and Neamţ, with an

aim to jointly identify the best solutions and services destined for the children whose parents

are left abroad to work.

The recommendations target both prevention through reducing the negative

consequences due to the temporary absence of parents and intervention in the cases which

require it.

i. Information and awareness campaigns addressed to parents

Organization, both by the public institutions and the NGOs, of

information campaigns for the parents with a view to acknowledging the

risks assumed by leaving abroad to work;

Organization of information campaigns for parents with regard to the

major aspects they need to consider during their temporary absence from

home (how to communicate with the children, how to maintain their

relationship with them, the importance of giving the child the right to

participate in the decisions that concern them etc.)

through posters, leaflets distributed in public places and

especially near the centres where the work-abroad

applications are submitted;

during parents‟ meetings;

by means of organizing trainings with the parents;

parents‟ counselling activities;

ii. Awareness campaigns within the Romanian communities in the

destination countries

Both through promoting the negative and positive aspects related to the

children‟s evolution in the parents‟ absence;

Activities developed by means of the churches, NGOs from those

countries and Romanian consulates;

iii. Development of counselling services for the persons who take care of the

children whose parents are both left

Ensuring counselling services for as many persons as possible who take

care of the children whose parents are left abroad to work with a view to

facilitating the communication between them and the children;

Courses and trainings especially for the grandparents in whose care are

left the children by the parents who leave abroad to work;

iv. Increase of the school counsellors network

Existence of a school counsellor in each school unit;

Developing specific activities both with children whose parents are left

and with the others;

v. Increase of School-after-School-type programmes

It was proposed the institutionalization of these programmes through

state budget financings;

Free access to these programmes for the children with reduced

financial possibilities;

Finding payment ways for the teachers involved;

Organizing special classes for consultations and explanations for the

children who have questions and misunderstandings related to the

subject taught, home-works received etc.;

Increasing the extracurricular activities organized at the level of the

school unit with a view to increasing the children‟s motivation for the

educational activity;

vi. Multiplication and expansion of the day-care centres

Additional medical check-ups are recommended within these centres

for this category of children (cultural homes, sports halls etc.)

vii. Development of more clubs for children with an aim to offer them

beneficial ways to spend their free time;

Identifying the spaces which may shelter such clubs at the local level;

viii. Media campaigns to promote solutions and opportunities for these

children, positive examples

ix. Organization of promotion campaigns aiming at employment

opportunities in the country;

Not in the last place, it is recommended:

x. Development of a mobilization and intervention strategy at the local level

Establishing and expanding the SPASs at the local level

Establishing consultative groups at the local level

Accelerating the enforcement of the prevention and intervention

measures provided by law: identification and monitoring of as many

families as possible with children whose parents are both left abroad to

work;

Rendering the awareness of the local leaders elect with a view to

allocating funds from the local budgets for the protection of children in

need and implicitly of children whose parents are left.

These measures proposed require the involvement and especially the

collaboration of as many social actors as possible – both NGOs, central and local

authorities (with the involvement of social services, school inspectorates and police)

and educators, employers or mass-media. Correlation and unification of the efforts

represent an essential step in ensuring the observance of the rights guaranteed,

through CDC, to all children, regardless of whether they benefit from their parents’

presence or not.

X. ANNEXES: Discussion guides and description of special

techniques used during the discussions with the children

Special techniques were used during the discussions with the children in order to facilitate

the communication with them, especially with the little ones. Drawing technique: the

children were asked to draw a beautiful day in their life, how they would like to spend that

day so as to be happy and fulfilled. The majority of drawings made by the young children (8-

12 and 12-16) represent a united family, children with their parents beside.

Some examples of drawings made by the children:

Pictures collage technique: Children and teenagers were asked to choose some pictures

from a set of photographs and make a collage with the topic: How I would like my future to

look like, how do I see my future. This technique worked better for teenagers (12-16 years).

Just like the young ones in their drawings they long first of all for a united family and a

beautiful house (most of the collages contain houses, the children‟s explanation being that

the „parents left to make money to build a house”)

-DISCUSSION GUIDE- - Children 8-18 years old -

1. Who we are and what we do

2. What the purpose of our meeting is

3. The nature of the discussion: it will be a free discussion, try to be spontaneous and not

to censor our answer in any way because we came here in order to understand the needs

you have

4. The purpose of the audio recording shall be explained and the participants shall be

ensured of the confidentiality of their answers

This discussion will mainly focus on you, your life, your daily activities, what you feel, which is why it is very

important to be spontaneous, say exactly how you feel and what makes you feel comfortable.

5. Let us start with what you do on a usual day of your life, what are all the actions and

activities that you do? How about in weekends?

6. What are the things that you like the most out of what you do on a usual day? What

about the least? Why is that?

I. INTRODUCTION (10 min)

II. OVERVIEW ON THE LIFESTYLE OF THE TARGET GROUP

7. What is your eating schedule, how many meals a day do you have, who prepares your

meals, what kind of food do you usually eat (it shall be explored for cooked meals,

snacks, fruits etc.)

8. What is your school schedule, do you comply with your schedule or not really? Why yes,

why not?

9. Do you go to school every day, or not? What are all the cases when you do not make it

to school? What happens in these cases?

10. (For those who miss school for long periods of time) What makes you rather not go to classes?

Why is that? What do you think that you lack in this case, what are all the things that you

think prevent you from going to school?

11. What do you do when you are not at school? What are all the activities you do? Where

do you go? Whom do you go with?

12. What are the activities that take most of your time in a day? What about the least? Why is

that?

13. What are the things that you would like to change in your life? What makes you say that?

Collage/ or drawing technique – optional depending on the respondents’ age: children will be provided with

coloured crayons and A3 sheets in order to draw how they would like a day in their life to look like or they will

be given to choose several photographs which would help them express best the same thing – an ideal day in their

life.

14. Let us think about how you would like an ordinary day in your life to look like, think

about the activities, persons you would like to be with etc. Let us even draw / or choose

the photographs that get closest to what we feel about such a day.

III. PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES ON THE FUNCTIONAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS RELATED TO PARENTS

15. What are the first things that come to your mind when thinking about your parents, your

mother and father? It may be anything: a feeling, emotion, images, words… What are all

the events that come to your mind when thinking about your parents? What makes you

think about that?

16. What are the things that your parents offer you when they are with you, think about

everything that your parents offer you, both material and emotional things (the

moderator shall explore for safety, security, happiness, joy etc).

17. Thinking about all the things that your parents offer you when they are with you, let us

see everything that your life is about with your parents, let us try to remember or even

imagine that your parents are with you:

How does an ordinary day in your life look like, what do you do, what are all

the activities you do on a usual week day, how about in the weekend? What

do all these activities mean for you, what do they bring you?

How many meals do you usually have a day and what exactly are you eating

for each meal, what kind of food, do you also eat cooked food?

How much time do you allocate for school classes, how about for home-

works? Does anybody help you with your home-works?

What do you do when you are not at school, what are all the things you do,

whom do you spend this time with? What does all this time offer you, what

does it mean for you?

18. What do you think that are all the moments when you would need your parents with

you? What do your parents offer you in these moments?

19. If one or both of your parents are left from home for a longer period of time, who is

beside you, who fulfils all these needs you have?

20. Where are your parents gone? How long have they been gone? What did this leave mean

for you?

21. What were you expecting when your parents left, what were you thinking then, and

furthermore, what did you hope to change in your life?

22. Did you agree with your parents leaving? What about with the persons you were left

with?

23. What has changed since your parents left? How is it now? How long has it been? How

do you see this situation now, after so much time?

24. What are the good things that this leave brought, how about the less good things? Give

arguments. Why is that?

25. How do you keep contact with your parents? Do you talk on the phone, how often? Do

you write e-mails?

26. What do you think you miss most at this moment? Why? Why is that? How do you feel

about this situation now? What do you think should change?

IV. PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES ON THE PRESENT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PARENTS

V. PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES ON THE FUTURE (HOW THE CHILDREN SEE THEIR FUTURE)

27. If you were to think about the future, what do you think you would do in the future?

28. What do you think would change in your life? In what way? What makes you think that?

29. Let us play again: let us draw the way the future looks for you. Make a drawing/ picture

collage expressing as best as possible the way you feel about the future and how you see

yourselves in the future (you can use places where you would like to be, people you

would like to be with, things you would like to do etc.).

-DISCUSSION GUIDE- -educators-

30. Who we are and what we do

31. What project we are developing at the moment / groups involved in this project

32. Emphasizing the importance of the educators‟s participation in this research

33. The nature of the discussion: it will be a free discussion, try to be spontaneous and not

to censor our answer in any way because it is important to see exactly what the situation

of these children is and the needs they have

34. The purpose of the audio recording shall be explained and the participants shall be

ensured of the confidentiality of their answers

Let us start by briefly discussing your general opinion on the current educational system.

I. INTRODUCTION (10 min)

II. PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES ON THE CURRENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

35. What is your opinion on the current educational system? What changes have there been

lately?

36. How did these changes affect you and your activity? What are the strengths and

weaknesses there? Give arguments.

37. Within the current system, what do you think are the difficulties and obstacles you are

facing? Why is that?

38. Do you consider that the current educational system is efficient in what concerns the

children‟s education? Do you believe that the pupils receive a real education?

39. What are the problems that you have with the children at the moment? What is the

nature of these problems? What would be the cause of these problems? It shall be explored

about the authority that the teachers currently have on the pupils.

40. Could we say that the authority the teacher has on the pupil has suffered changes in

recent years? Why do you think that? What would be the causes?

41. How would you describe the present teacher – student relationship? Why is that?

42. What solutions do you see to this problem?

There are many children, pupils, in these areas, in Moldavia, who were left without one or both parents

following their leave abroad to work. Let us see together what the situation of these children is, what their needs

are and what solutions we could propose.

43. Do you have in your classes, or in the classes where you teach, many cases of children

left at home without their parents? What could you say about the situation of these

children?

III. PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES ON THE CHILDREN WITH ONE OR BOTH PARENTS LEFT ABROAD TO WORK

44. What could you say about these children‟s behaviour? Could you say that you noticed

differences in the behaviour of these children since their parents left home?

45. What could we say about the behaviour of this category of children? From your

observations, what are the consequences of the parents‟ leaving? It shall be explored in

details for:

behavioural consequences

absenteeism

school dropout

consequences on the school results

networking

other consequences observed by the teachers

46. Let us see now, from your experience, what cases were you faced with, how was the

respective child affected and what solutions were found at the school level for that child?

47. What do you think that are all the difficulties / obstacles that appear in this target group?

Why is that? What kind of difficulties are these?

48. Could you say that there is cooperation between the adults who take care of these

children and you, as educators? How often do they inquire about the children they take

care of? And what is their attitude?

49. What about the children‟s natural parents, could you say that they are interested in the

results and potential problems that their children may have? In what situations?

50. Who cooperates with you when there is a problem related to a child whose parents are

both left abroad to work? Who interferes when a problem needs to be solved, regardless

of its nature, behavioural, school results, absenteeism, etc.?

51. What could you say about your relationship as educators with these children? Is it closer?

Why yes? Why not?

52. From your viewpoint, what solutions / services do you consider appropriate for this

category of children? Who do you think are all the persons who should get involved in

their problems? Why do you think that? Give arguments.

-DISCUTION GUIDE- -Social assistance-

53. Who we are and what we do

54. What project we are developing at the moment / groups involved in this project

55. Emphasizing the importance of the participation in this research of the social assistance

/ representatives of the social assistance and child protection representatives

56. The nature of the discussion: it will be a free discussion, try to be spontaneous and not

to censor our answer in any way because it is important to see exactly what the situation

of these children is and the needs they have

57. The purpose of the audio recording shall be explained and the participants shall be

ensured of the confidentiality of their answers

IV. PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES ON THE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

I. INTRODUCTION (10 min)

We all know that there is a considerable number of children, especially in these areas, who were left at home

without their parents following their leave abroad to work. Let us see how your institution deals with this social

category and what your observations are related to the situation of these children.

58. First of all, from your observations at the county / local level, could we talk about a

social phenomenon when talking about the children whose parents are left abroad to

work? Why yes? Why not?

59. How is this phenomenon approached by your institution?

Who is responsible of monitoring the cases of children whose parents are left

abroad to work?

How exactly is this monitoring made? On what periods?

Who are the persons involved?

What difficulties do you face in approaching these children whose parents are

left abroad to work?

Are there obstacles / difficulties in interfering in certain situations considered

under risk for these cases?

60. What are, in your opinion, the most frequent problems that these children face, from the

observations made by your institution on the field? What difficulties are they faced with?

61. How do you manage to tackle the issues encountered with children whose parents are

left abroad to work?

III. MONITORING THE CASES OF CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS ARE LEFT

ABROAD TO WORK

II. CURRENT SERVICES OFFERED WITHIN THE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE DIRECTORATES (both at the level of the local mayoralties and at the county level)

Let us briefly discuss about the social assistance services that your institution generally offers, we shall mainly

talk about the services that may come in the support of our target group: children whose parents are left abroad

to work.

62. What services do you recommend to children, parents and those who take care of/

temporarily support the children whose parents are left abroad to work.

63. Services currently provided

Types of services

Categories of target group considered

64. Are there special solutions / action plans from your institution aimed for the target

category: children whose parents are left abroad to work? What would they be? What do

they consist of?

65. How do you think your institution may get involved in solving the problems of these

children? In what way? Give arguments.

66. What type of services do you consider this target group would need? Why? Give

arguments.

IV. FUTURE PLANS AND SOLUTIONS FOR THE CHILDREN LEFT WITHOUT PARENTS FOLLOWING THE MIGRATION PHENOMENON