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

The well-being of migrants’ households
cine, clothing for school or kindergarten and footwear: “Now I spend
more on services but in summer more on food… Last month I paid only
370 lei…,but anyway...about 100 lei for building maintenance…and
then for Cable TV- 60 lei, then cold water, hot water …the price for electricity
has increased and that is how I spend the money...” (III_E_9);
“It is enough but whenever it is not enough we spend little and save the
rest. What would happen if you do not save money…” (III_E_17). The
number of elderly who always save money is rather big: “I observe a
rule: I use only my goods and that’s it. I receive a pension but I would
never spend it all. I save it for the rainy days as we can have large costs
especially when you get to the hospital” (FG_E_3_urban_asylum).
Grandchildren are a priority for the elderly and they spend consistent
sums to provide for them: “Almost all the money sent from abroad
is spent on my granddaughters’ needs (clothing for school, notebooks,
etc.)” (III_E_20), including the money taken from their own incomes.
When the elderly take care of their grandchildren, the sources of income
are the benefits they get when they are appointed as a legal
guardian: “I get from the mayoralty 500 lei per each child as I am their
guardian. It means 1000 lei” (III_E_2).
Often conflicts are attested in appointing the person who will
ensure the guardianship of the child left behind: “It is easier if the
parent placed his child in guardianship in time because when a legal
representative is not appointed, conflicts may appear within the family
regarding the person who will benefit from the money parents send
from abroad and who takes care of the child” (FG_EE_urban_rural).
There are frequent cases when parents do not apply the legal form
of protection, this may result in a situation where the documents are
urgently needed: “They would not appoint a guardian. They did it only
when they had to leave for Romania with the dancing troupe and they
were asked to do this at the customs… Still there are many cases when
parents avoid registering unless they need something” (FG_EE_urban_
rural). To avoid a similar situation, the interviewed experts think that
parents: “Should be requested to provide a document to prove in whose
care the child remains and to specify the period and the date of leaving
abroad, regardless of the time they will stay away, the parent should appoint
a guardian” (FG_EE_urban_rural).
In the situations where remittances lack entirely or are insignificant,
the elderly find other forms of support for themselves as well as for
their grandchildren by performing different domestic or agricultural
jobs and by getting other jobs: “I help myself in summer I go
to Tirnova. I have many acquaintances there, not relatives but good
friends and I help them from the spring until the winter to dig, to clean.
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