specific needs of children and elderly left behind as a ... - IOM Moldova

The health of family members The involved perception in the of migration labour migration process
quency of symptoms, severity, duration and extent of their manifestation),
the disease can evolve to a much more serious form and sometimes the
consequences can be irreversible.
Premature maturation of the children who are assigned multiple responsibilities
by their parents who migrated, hyperbolize somehow their selfconfidence.
We encountered situations where minors, relying only on
their own experience, try to “treat” their little brother/sister or to selftreat.
The danger of this may be felt in the firm belief of a girl aged 14
who takes care of her sister aged 7 and her sick grandmother: “I already
know what to do... and I know what pills to buy, I’m doing fine” (III_C_
28). A similar confidence can be noticed in a boy aged only 13: “I live
with my elder sister and brother... I usually have headaches. I have intracranial
pressure and I need a treatment. I buy magnesium and other things
and my brother and sister help me observe all symptoms” (III_C_5). The
possibility of poisoning, adverse reactions or complications due to
the misuse of drugs, without parental monitoring can have very serious
consequences for these children’s health.
The migration of parents, without them making the tutelage responsibilities
official for the person they leave their child with, can create
dangers for their children in the case of medical emergencies.
According to the legislation, any intervention should be undertaken
only with the parent’s/guardian’s consent. In the absence of parents, if
there is no legal guardianship act, no person can assume responsibility
for that decision. The absence of parents and lack of any guardianship
documents complicates the procedure of granting medical care
for the child, especially when there is need for invasive intervention.
Such cases have been reported during focus groups discussions: “The
mother went abroad and left two children... One of them got sick and
needed to have a complicated surgery and the doctors could not do it
until they had the signature of his mother agreeing on that surgery. Now
that was a real problem! She finally made the documents from Italy for
assigning guardianship to some elderly, they signed the documents and
the child was saved” (FG_ EC_rural).
A gynaecologist, working in a municipal medical institution told us a
case where a teenager of 16 years old came in for an examination. It
was determined that she had a 5-6 weeks pregnancy. The young woman
requested an abortion. She was a student at a municipal school, living
at home and her financial situation was precarious. The teenager’s
parents had been working abroad for many years and she was living
with her old and sick aunt who lived in a village in southern Moldova.
There were no guardianship documents for this relative. According to
Moldovan law, the teenager is considered a minor and the gynaecolo-
143