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

Psychological and social effects of migration
1.2. Psychological and social effects of migration
Children
• Children’s emotional condition
Emotions play an important role in children’s life and development: they
help them to understand reality and to form a relationship with it. Expressed
by their behaviour, they inform the adult about the things they like,
dislike or make them sad.
The qualitative research that we conducted allows us to identify the impact
of migration on the sensitivity of children who are left without parental
care due to labour migration. The data that we managed to collect proves
that the family has the unique quality to influence the utmost part of a
child’s life, having a strong impact on their attachment between them
and their parents as well as on primary emotional processes that rule
a family’s life and the development of a child’s personality. The psychological
perspective of the emotional deprivation demonstrates that the lack
of communication with the mother, the lack of emotional contact have a
direct impact not only on their physical development but may also cause
certain disorders in physical and, first of all, in a child’s emotional development.
This is the cause of a premature development of negative behaviour
in a person (fear, mental affective conditions and communication barriers).
A range of specific needs of children are not met such as security, affection,
and safety which explains the negative emotions experienced by children
left alone as a result of migration. The absence of one parent or both of
them triggers the appearance of emotional weaknesses as the contact between
them and their parents is rare and temporarily broken. The effects of
the lack of affection grow even more seriously and more irreversible if the
absence of parents last in time.
Parents’ departure strongly affects the child and is intensely felt: “I feel lonely
and I miss them so much” (III_C_28); ”I cried, I didn’t want her to leave, I
didn’t want to be left alone” (III_C_8).
Sadness and longing are felt by children in certain circumstances and are
caused by the absence of their parents, their mother’s affection, the provision
of a secure environment: ,,When you are all alone and you are coming
back home, you enter the house and you feel that the house is empty
and there is nothing to do there. When there is at least somebody in, you
can talk to him during dinner, but otherwise you eat alone. And you have
no appetite” (FG_C_ 2_rural); ,,We, especially the girls, need our mother’s
affection. There is no one to talk to”; “Sometimes, if you’re alone with your
sister or brother various conflicts may arise but if a parent would be home,
he/she would solve them” (FG_C_2_rural). The labour migration of parents
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