Romania and Moldova: children left behind
29/08/2017, Redazione
A photo-report by Gianmarco Carlone on the so-called "white orphans" – children of migrant parents who are raised by relatives or forced to live in orphanages
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After the fall of the Communist regime, countries like Romania and Moldova went through significant social and economic changes that stemmed several waves of migration.
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An increasing number of people from rural and financially disadvantaged backgrounds chose to migrate abroad, especially to European countries like Italy, Spain, or Russia.
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On the one hand, emigration provides significant support to the economies of the countries of origin; on the other hand, it breaks up a huge number of families.
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Financial issues force mothers – the main local workforce – to leave in search of the means to give their children a better future.
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Today's migrants are mostly female – women make up 69% of those who find employment in Europe as domestic workers or caregivers. The demand for caregivers has not been shrinking in countries like Italy.
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Children who remain behind are left in the care of grandparents (often struggling even to take care of themselves), neighbours, or older siblings – often, also minors. The less fortunate end up in orphanages – obsolete remnants of Communist times.
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According to data by the Unicef, in Romania there are at least 350,000 minors "left behind" with at least one parent abroad for at least one year; in Moldova, according to the International Organization for Migration, at least 50,000.
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The phenomenon is doomed to increase, as the demand for carers in countries where neither families nor the State manage to take care of an increasing elderly population is matched by the need of Eastern European families to improve their financial situation, even if that means separation from loved ones.
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Photos and texts by Gianmarco Carlone
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Other works by Gianmarco Carlone on-line
