one out of 4 Romanian children has or had at least one parent who went to work abroad

Almost a quarter of the Romanian children who are now between the ages of 0-17 had or have a parent who went to work abroad, according to the data of a complex national study carried out by the Save the Children Romania Organization.

Italy (21%), Spain (17%) and Austria (12%) are the top three destinations for work migration for women; in the case of men, these are Germany (24%), Italy (22%) and Great Britain (14%).

Almost a third of the children who were asked (31%) declare that they did not agree with their parent(s) going to work abroad. On average, the mother leaves for the first time when the child is 6 years and 11 months old; she was away, on average, 3.2 years out of the 4.5 in which the child faced the mother’s migration and among the mothers who went to work abroad, 58% return to the country once a year, the investigation reveals.

The experience of migration is similar in urban and rural areas: 61.5% of children whose parents have ever gone abroad have or had only the father leave (approximately 587,000 children), 20.4% have or had only the mother leave (approximately 194,000 children), and 18.1% had both parents away (approximately 173,000 children). By referring to the reference volume used in the sampling, namely 3,896,943 children, it follows that almost one million children, respectively 954,000 children have or had the experience of one of their parents leaving during their childhood, up to the date of the study.

Relevant data, which show the size of the phenomenon of children remaining in the country, following the economic migration of their parents, show that 13.8% of children had at least one of their parents go to work abroad in the last year. By extrapolation to the reference population of children (3,896,943), a volume of approximately 536,000 children is estimated who in the last year (June 2021-June 2022) had at least one parent who went to work abroad.

The hierarchy of reasons that were the basis of the decision to go to work abroad is roughly similar in the case of departed mothers and in the case of departed fathers. However, the following aspects are highlighted: the motivation of low individual income in the case of mothers (36%) occupies a greater weight than in the case of fathers (32%); the motivation to improve the general situation of the family occupies a significantly higher weight for fathers (33%) compared to mothers (26%). The motivation of money for children’s education is twice as high among mothers (11%) than among fathers (5%). 87% of the parents who went abroad in the last year used to send money to their relatives/children who remained in the country. The frequency of children’s discussions with the departed parent tends to increase with the child’s age, until reaching the 14-year-old threshold for the child, after which the trend is slightly downward. Most children talk to their absent parent daily.

It should be noted that 20% of teenagers (15-17 years old) who have a parent who has gone to work abroad (one in five) talk to him once a week or less often. The main means of communication with absent parents are video platforms (77%).

On average, children whose parents go to work abroad go to the doctor significantly less (2.2 times per year) than children who are not in this situation (2.5 times per year), although the medical needs in the two categories are not significantly different.

For a little over half of the children (57%, approximately 305,000 children) the parents declare that the school was informed about the child’s situation while the parent was away working abroad. The probability of information is slightly higher in the urban environment (58) than in the rural environment (55%). The probability that the school will be notified decreases significantly with the children’s age increase, the level of information in the case of primary school children being the highest.

It is worth noting that, if in the case of relatives, 83% of them declare that the child was also involved in the decision of the parent to leave, the share in which the children declare that they were involved is significantly lower (62%). Even if in a small proportion of the population of children, in general, all the risk behaviors declared by the relatives characterize to a significantly greater extent the children with at least one parent who has gone to work abroad than the other children.

Children with at least one parent working abroad are five times more likely (560%) to drink alcohol frequently, compared to other children. Children with at least one parent working abroad are twice as likely to smoke frequently compared to other children. Likewise, children with at least one parent who has gone to work abroad are six times more likely to generate conflicts with other children (in correlation with previously identified externalizing problems and the negative feelings the child feels). Children with at least one parent working abroad are more than six times more likely to use ethnobotanicals or banned substances compared to other children. Children with at least one parent who has gone to work abroad are twice as likely as other children to have aggressive behavior towards other children.

Although the material situation of families with a member who has gone to work abroad is perceived to be better than in the case of other families, confidence in future developments at the family level is more restrained both in terms of children’s school performance and the family’s health status and the general condition of the household. Thus, the parents of children with at least one parent who has gone to work abroad: have an 11% lower probability than the other respondents to consider that the children’s performance will improve in the following year; they are 8% less likely to believe that the health of the family will improve in the next year; they are 7% less likely to consider that the household’s condition will improve in the following year. With regard to this aspect, the Save the Children hypothesis considers a state of anxiety generated by job insecurity and the feeling of occupational vulnerability that is also reflected on the child’s health and school performance.