Romania: Agerpres, 73 thousand children living far from parents migrated for work. Problems include loneliness, depression, school dropout

73,387 is the number of children living in Romania, far from one or both parents, migrated abroad for work. Such findings have been gathered by the Romanian National Authority for Children and published by the Romanian News Agency Agerpres. At the end of 2021, 12,339 children had both their parents abroad for work, and 92.8% of them live with relatives up to the fourth degree of kinship. The others had been placed with foster families, in foster centres, or with unrelated families or people. Over 52 thousand children have either parent migrated abroad, and 96.6% of them live with relatives up to the fourth degree of kinship. For 8,528 children, the parent who has gone abroad is the only financial support for the family. The figures are slightly less than last year’s, but such associations as Save the Children Romania warn that the findings of the Romanian National Authority for Children do not reflect the real situation, as they have bene gathered through school inspectors, so they do not include those children who have dropped out of school or those who are under school age. Surveys conducted in the last few years by Save the Children Romania and other NGOS find that half the children who have both parents migrated abroad for work are under ten years of age, and two thirds of them are aged 2 to 6. The NGOs point out that not having their parents is driving some of these children into isolation, school dropout, crime, emotional detachment from their parents, even depression.Valentina Bombelli