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Romanians Abroad
The article highlighted the effects on the children left behind, citing the story of 12-year-old Stefan who killed himself when he found that his mother was leaving for Italy and he would have to live with his hard-drinking father. Although this was an extreme case, psychologists in Romania are ringing alarm bells about the long term effects of this type of abandonment on a generation of children.
Children of migrant parents are at increased risk of depression and pyschological problems caused by abandonment, are more likely to abuse alcohol and cigarettes, get in trouble with police and underperform educationally or drop out of school. In fact, although the separation is temporary, the profile of a child with one parent abroad is similar to that of a child who has lost a parent through divorce or death.
| There is concern that many of these children are left with grandparents who struggle to cope with the demands of young families. Even worse, some end up alone, or are taken into state care. |
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Stefan's mother still felt forced to seek work in Italy after his death. There she earns $770 a month cleaning houses - more than three times her wage as a seamstress in Romania. She left her two older children in the care of their father who later abandoned them altogether. Alina, aged 17, moved in with her boyfriend, and 16-year-old Gheorghe dropped out of school and now lives alone in the family house surviving with occasional construction jobs.
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Some children do reap the material benefits of their parents' comparitive wealth, acquiring mobile phones, computers, bicycles and other sought after toys and, in some cases, having opportunities to travel abroad. However, psychologists warn that showering children with expensive gifts will not undo the damage caused by extended separation from their parents, and a SOROS study in 2007 recommended that all children of migrant parents should be considered 'at risk' by Romania's child protection department.
Not all children are left behind when their parents migrate, but even if children travel with their parents a happy ending isn't guaranteed. In the first nine months of Romania's EU membership, 269 Romanian children were abandoned or taken into state care in nine European countries, mostly in Italy and Spain. |
Some were found in exploitative situations - used for theft and begging - while others were victims of abuse. In seven cases it seems that the children were being trafficked for adoption. Many of the children have been repatriated, but some still remain in the care of social services in the countries concerned.
One little-discussed aspect of Romania's migrant worker population is what happens when, in the current economic climate, these workers lose their jobs. Tens of thousands are already out of work in Italy and Spain, and fears are growing that if huge numbers of migrant workers return to Romania, the country's economy will be stretched to breaking point. Even if the unemployed workers are able to stay in their new countries, without the money they send back, their families in Romania will suffer.
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