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

Executive Introduction summary
gration. Migrants’ children and old family members often face discrimination
and the risk of being socially excluded. In this regard it is necessary
to develop and implement initiatives targeted at protecting and supporting
children and elderly left behind. Planning and working out appropriate
measures of support is conditioned by the preliminary identification of
concrete needs not only of a financial nature but also those related to core
aspects specific to the social and psychological condition of children and
elderly deprived of care.
In these circumstances, the Czech Development Agency in collaboration
with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations
Fund for Population from the Republic of Moldova encouraged the idea of
the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family (MLSPF) to conduct
research that would identify the specific needs of children and elderly left
behind as a consequence of migration and that will further contribute to
the creation of a national mechanism of intervention in the case of these
categories of people.
The overall objective of this research focused on the analysis of the situation
and needs of children and elderly left behind by their family members
as a consequence of labour migration that will be of use for the Ministry of
Labour, Social Protection and Family of the Republic of Moldova (MLSPF)
in establishing some guidelines for the development of policies based on
empirical data that will anticipate/mitigate the negative consequences of
migration through measures protecting children and elderly left behind.
Specific objectives of the research focused on the following aspects:
• The effects of migration on education, health condition, interaction and
social integration of children depending on their age and paying special
attention to teenagers as a distinct group that experience specific
psychological issues related to puberty, risk of drug/alcohol addiction,
conflicts with the law, etc.;
• Psychological effect on children and elderly who lack support and care
of their family members as a consequence of labour migration as their
feelings of uselessness, deprivation and behaviours that result from these
states like aggressiveness and isolation;
• Effects on the mental condition of children and elderly: individual feelings
of exhaustion, lack of support, psychosomatic disorders, etc.;
• Impact of the lack of connection between generations regarding the roles
within family, power structures, examples of communication, choice of
future profession and culture of migration;
• Impact of migration on the family’s integrity (divorce and the separation
of parents from children, etc.) and on the social inclusion and exclusion
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