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

Psychological and social effects of migration
working abroad are deprived of their houses by their relatives or are declared
as “missing”. These marginalization practices, abusive deprivation
of property, their abandonment and isolation has a direct impact on their
moral degradation and a new lifestyle, the one that leads to homelessness
due to the impossibility to legally regain their dwelling. “This is something
that usually happens to the elderly, when the husband or the wife is abroad.
One of them stays here, something goes wrong, other family interests appear
and they sell the apartment and they declare the person missing. When the
other person returns home there is no place for him/her to go, such cases are
quite frequent. This happens more often when men are coming back from
abroad” (FG_EE_urban). Another problem mentioned by the experts refers
to the direct involvement of relatives in frauds and the impossibility to
legally defend the elderly. “Relatives are mostly the ones doing these kind of
things, they do everything officially and afterwards nothing can be restored”
(FG_EE_urban). The impact of these destructive practices has caused depression
and suicide attempts by the elderly.
The institutionalized elderly have no negative emotions caused by abusive
situations in the institutions. On the contrary, some of the elderly
mentioned that within the institution they feel “a thousand times better”
(FG_E_3_urban_asylum) and that they feel no control or power specific to
domestic violence: “We do not depend on anybody, at home you will be told
what to do but here it is different, you live the way you want to” (FG_E_3_
urban_asylum).
This study proves the nostalgia and homesickness felt by some of the institutionalized
elderly: “Home is the best place” (FG_E_4_rural_asylum). The
emotional disadvantage and affective imbalance of elderly is conditioned
by the acute wish to satisfy their need to live and/or die in their own house:
“I want to leave; I want to get home to die in my house” (FG_E_3_urban_
asylum).
The experts told us: “The elderly are shy, fearful, sick, depressive I mean
they are not open because they have so many problems and they don’t know
what to start with and they lost their trust... they get used to the situation
they find themselves in but along the way they become more open and they
want to change, and every person is in search for quietness and calmness”
(FG_EE_urban). The results of the study also unveil other differences between
the elderly left behind and those whose children are at home.
The experts participating in the research showed that the elderly with labour
migrant children in comparison with those whose children are at home, experience
the following problems: (i) the immense longing of children who
left; (ii) the care for children who are abroad; (iii) health issues; (iv) depression;
(v) the responsibility of taking care of their grandchildren; (vi)
marginalization; (vii) the loss of property; (viii) addictions as an escape
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