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

Normative aspects
The legislation of the Republic of Moldova partially tackles the issue of
children left behind as a consequence of migration but many aspects
remain uncovered or have unclear implementation mechanisms.
The interviewed experts proposed the following recommendations to
the legal framework to guarantee children’s legal guardianship:
- To revise the laws in force in order to protect the child by monitoring
thoroughly people who take care of children: “a law should
probably be introduced to stipulate the verification of persons appointed
to take care of children” (FG_EC_urban);
- Local authorities should supervise children left in others’ care:
“it is necessary to monitor these cases at least two times a year” (FG_
EC_urban);
- To reorganize guardianship authorities and to entitle them
to charge parents who neglect their children while working
abroad: “in fact we analyze now certain ways of making parents
more responsible and here we have mentioned the reform of guardianship
authority. By empowering local public authorities with
greater competence they will have the possibility to interfere and
in some cases penalize families for the bad treatment of children”
(III_EC_1);
- To make parents more responsible: “we should have a law to
make parents take greater responsibility for their children” (FG_
EC_rural);
- To introduce control measures at the border: “there should be a
legal document to certify who takes care of child” (III_EC_3), etc.
On the other hand, the experts submitted a number of complementary
suggestions for amendments of the legal framework which include the
following:
- Sensitizing parents about the appointment of a legal guardian, in
this respect parents should be informed about the legal documents
in force: “people who leave abroad should meet certain requirements
in order to be more responsible” (FG_EC_urban); “a legal guardian
should be appointed from the moment one of the parents leave the
country but the institution is not informed about it thus it is a very
big problem” (FG_EC_rural); “they should be acquainted with the
necessary documents before going abroad” (III_EC_3);
- Sensitizing parents about the risks family may face in case they
leave abroad: “it is obvious that we should discuss with this family
and explain them clearly the risks that may appear” (III_EC_1);
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