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

Policies and mechanisms existing on the protection of children and the elderly
gration. Therefore, the ministry that takes the responsibility and addresses
the impact is the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family. The
other two ministries that deal with concrete aspects of children’s life without
making a difference between children left behind by migrant parents
and children whose parents are home are the Ministry of Education – the
access to education and children’s school performance and the Ministry
of Health – health condition in the context of general monitoring requirements.
• Forms of support, social services and institutions providing such services
Having analysed the forms of support and social services provided to children
left behind as a consequence of migration, we can mention that these
are under-developed or not available at all. Some parents when they leave
abroad for work refer their children to residential institutions. Although
there are forms of support that are not directly relevant to this category
of children, they still provide services to children affected by migration.
The Institutional framework that stipulates education and development
of children in difficulty includes residential institutions: “the Ministry of
Education has in its subordination 15 boarding schools for orphans and children
left without parental care with a number of 2279 children 35% of which
are orphans and children deprived of parental care and 65% of children come
from socially vulnerable families whose parents are not employed and do not
have basic living conditions for raising children” (III_EC_6).
Thus, one of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family’s experts
approaches this issue more generally specifying that: “at present in
our country operate 163 social centres designed for families with children and
children in difficulty, among which are 102 day care centres that provide services
to about 5125 beneficiaries; 31 temporary placement centres that render
services to approximately 1034 beneficiaries; 28 mixed centres providing services
to about 1195 beneficiaries; and 2 socio-medical recovery centres that
offer services to 217 beneficiaries. The spectrum of social services provided
by the above mentioned centres depend on their type. These institutions also
offer services to this category of children” (III_EC_2).
Among the most functional forms of support provided at present to children
left behind as a consequence of migration we identified the following:
- the centre for children in difficulty (experts include children left
behind in this category) works differently, still, experts think these
services should be expanded and adjusted to the needs of this category
of children: “the existing social services are insufficient, should be
expanded” (III_EC_2). But a few experts do not agree with the divi-
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