SOROS Public hearing on Migration’s effects on children left home

In Romania, institutional actors debate over children left behind

On June 6th, Soros Foundation Romania organized a public debate on the consequences that parents migration has on children left behind, inviting stakeholders and institutional actors to propose solutions regarding the role that social assistants, school and new caregivers should play in the children’s lives.

Representatives – teachers, social assistants, Romanian deputies, NGOs, researchers – from more than 30 departments expressed their concern and opinion on how to provide a better care to children through these actors.

These were main conclusions of the Public hearing:

Social assistant should regularly watch over the children’s evolution, should constantly communicate with migrated parents, should inform children of their situation and should put into practice the existent legislation regarding protection of children left behind.

Schools should closely collaborate with social assistants and the local services of social protection, as well as with other institutions in order to offer psychological assistance and to organize different after-school activities intended to better integrate these children.

As for new caregiver, he/she should be emotionally prepared for this new task, be a parent of at least 2 children, be in good mental and physical shape and participate in parenting and counselling classes.

General conclusion of public debate raised awareness that a common inter-institutional protocol should be established between these actors, which could appoint the responsibilities for each one of them, ensuring a better communication between the state institutions and the civil society.

CLB.eu thanks Ms. Maria-Madalina Toader, for her kind contribution to our activities with this article on the Public hearing-Migration’s effects on children left home.

Her BA degree in Political Science at the University of Bucharest focused on the Public Policies regarding the phenomenon of “left behind” both at national and European scale. She was a member of the Migration working group at the United Nations Fund for Population Aid (UNFPA) Romania’s team, responsible for compiling the “Genre Observatory”. She conducted a field research in her home city, Roman, Neamt county, regarding the local situation of left behind children.