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

CHAPTER I
yet: “I think that in a little while there will be great difficulties between generations”
(FG_EC_rural).
Reciprocal care is a determining characteristic feature of a family, and the lack
of it denotes significant conflicts in the parent-child relationship. In the case
of families with migrant parents, the lack of care is conditioned by the absence
of parents in day-to-day life, which generates multiple risks, including that of
child labour exploitation. The study highlighted the fact that children want to
feel their parents’ care, even if it would be manifested through various prohibitions
or restrictions, which are part of the children’s vision of parental care.
• The problem of divorces and separation of family members as a consequence
of labour migration
Parental migration makes children feel anxious and scared of an eventual
divorce of their parents: ,,When your parents live separately – one at home
and the other abroad – I fear that my father would find another woman or
will divorce” (FG_C_2_rural); ,,I fear that when my mom returns home she
will file for a divorce... I don’t want this... I want us to be a united family
again... I wrote a poem about this last year:
You’re gone for four year now,
You’re living now with strangers,
You went away to make some money,
To make our lives better...
You should come home,
Come back for good,
As if you come once in a while
The longing’s like a wound.
Oh, won’t you please come back
And stay with us for good,
You know how much I miss you
And you know that I need you...
My sweet and beloved mother,
We won’t forget you ever,
Even you far away from us,
I love you more than ever (III_C_19).
The fears of children are justified. The research presents several situations
of separation and/or the divorce of parents as a result of labour migration:
“They separated because they went abroad” (III_C_9). The interviewed
experts confirm the high rate of divorces among migrants: “There are many
divorces” (FG_EC_rural). Moreover, one of the experts said that in his professional
experience there is “no example of a family that remained united
after parental migration”. This consequence of migration has disturbed
many children (see Case Study Box 15 below).
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