L abour M igration and the Resilience of Romanian C hildren

1. LabourMigrationandtheResilience of Romanian Children Alexandru Gulei, PhD “Alternative Sociale” Association

2. Alternative Sociale Association copiiinvizibili.alternativesociale.ro Innovation. Development. Cooperation

4. Direct services for childrenvictimof abuse/neglect, children at risk of becomingseparatedfromtheirparents • „Home alone” children (children left behind) • Remigrant children (childrenreturning to the country of origin) • Childrenwithparents in prison • Children of divorce • Childrenfromresidential care • Direct services for elders • Training for professionals • Professional literature(workingmethodologies, studiesandresearch, educationprograms), information/awarenessraising/sensitizationcampaigns.

5. Juvenile CourtSystem • Social integration of prisoners • Judicial management • Anti-corruption/Magistrate’s professional ethics • Training for Magistrates Spokespersons • Training for professionals, professional literature, information/awarenessraising/sensitizationcampaigns

6. Assistance for the victims of trafficking in persons • Facilitation ofintegration of TCN • Training forprofessionals • Professional literature, studies, recommendation reports • Lobby andadvocacy • www.singuracasa.ro (2007-2017) • www.antitrafic.ro

7. Career guidance as a means to preventing abuse, exploitation • Training for teachers • Student’s Manual, Teacher’s Guide • Good practices • Regional partnerships– 25 institutions

8. Social EconomyJournal(editedin partenership by Alternative Sociale and Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași) • www.profitpentruoameni.ro

9. Studies and research 2016 – Implementation of a program for developing anger management and prosocial skills for children from residential care. Evaluation report 2015 – Recommendations report on reduction of the vulnerabilities of Third Country Nationals to Trafficking in Human Beings (for the Romanian and EU context)2013 – “Children with imprisoned parents, intervention for diminishing the negative consequences and improving mental health”, study conducted in a consortium consisting of Huddersfield University and Partners for Prisoners Support Group (UK); Technological University of Dresda and Treffpunkte.V. (Germany) and “Alexandru IoanCuza” University2012 – „Remigration of Romanian children”2011 – „NGOs in Iasi. Reality and potential of local development”2010 – „Analysis of the justice system for children in Romania”2008 – “National analysis of home alone children phenomenon, as a consequence of their parents work migration”, study conducted with the financial support of UNICEF Romania2007 – “Study on child exploitation through dangerous agricultural works and other severe types of exploitation, in Iasi County”2006 – “HOME ALONE! Study conducted in Iasi on children separated from one or both parents because they left to work abroad”2002 – “Audit on the initiative of employment reintegration of former prisoners in Iasi”

10. Children, their families and labour migration

11. “Home Alone” Children • Direct services ( over 2.500 children, since 2005-2018); • Tools for professionals: methodologies for the social, psychologicalandjuridicalassistance of „Home Alone” Children (2007), remigrant children (2012) etc.; • Studies andresearch: “HOME ALONE! Study conducted in Iasi on children separated from one or both parents because they left to work abroad”- 2006, “National analysis ofthe phenomenon of children ”home alone”as a consequence of their parents labourmigration” (togetherwith UNICEF – 2008). The latterfundamentedtheEuropean Parliament resolution of 12 March 2009 on migrant children left behind in the country of origin; • Training for professionals; • Information/Awarenessraising/Sensitisationcampaigns • Since2007 -www.singuracasa.ro

12. The Remigrant Children • The study ”The Remigration of Romanian Children: 2008-2012”; • Tools for professionals: „Working Methodology for the Psycho-social Assistance of Remigrant Children” (2012); • Direct servicesfor remigrant childrenandtheirfamilies; • Capacity building for professionalsfrom social services; • Information/awarenessraising/development of thecapacity of parents or of personswho care for remigrant children;

13. Elders ”Left Behind” • Direct services (over 600 beneficiaries) • „Working Methodology for the Psycho-social- juridical Assistance of Elders” (2012)”

14. Quantitative and Qualitative Data

15. The Home Alone Children

16. Romania • 8th mostpopulated EU country • Total population of Romania:approx.19.870.647 inhabitants (residentpopulation, 2015) • Children: 3.734.667

17. ”Home Alone” Children. Official Quantitative Data (2008-2018)

18. ”Home Alone” Children. Official Quantitative Data (2008-2018) • Estimates of theMinistry of Labour are constantly under-evaluated • Compared to independent estimates. In 2008 thenumberestimatedbytheMinistry of Labour varied between 92.328 și 100.024; at thetimeUNICEF/Alternative Sociale Association estimatedthenumber at over 350.000, Soros Foundation Romania - 175.000 children of secondaryschoolage – grades V-VIII. • Compared to estimates of other public institutions. In March 2019 – Ministry of Education estimated over 159.000 children.

19. Qualitative Data

20. Effects The impact of separation(positivevs. negative): • Emotional • Care anddevelopmentneeds • Rights • Cultural

21. How children react to the separation Theemotional reactions of the home alone children differ, based on: • The age of children when the parent/parents left for the first time; • The level of psycho-social development, the level of understanding, of awareness; • Personality characteristics, the capacity to adjust to stressand to adjust to the changes which occurred in his/her life; • The level of preparation for these changes, the duration of the separation from the parent/parents and the type of communication with the parents during the separation; • The support received by the child from the support network, particularly the person in charge of the child’s care.

22. Care anddevelopment needs The absence of one or both parentsmay be associatedwith problemsor with the certain needs of the children not being cared for: • Food (lack of food, absence of certain categories of elements essential to growth etc.) • Clothing(unsuitable to season, size, dirtyclothes etc.) • Hygiene(lack/poorhygiene,repelling smells, parasites), • Medicalneglect(absence of necessary care, skipping regular check-ups and vaccinations, not taking/taking wrongly the prescriptions etc.), • Housing (poorly maintained house,lack of heating, risk of fire, missing/degraded furniture,toxic substances etc.), • Education(sub-stimulation, instability of the system of punishment and rewards, lack of models for the acquisition of independent life skills, lack of supervision and support for the improvement of the school performance/attendance). Aside from neglect home alone children may become victims of different forms of abuse and exploitation.

23. Common problems Risks on children • Overburdening with roles: taking on adult responsibilities (cooking, cleaning, paying the bills etc.), caring for younger siblings; • Vulnerability to physical, psychological, sexual abuse, labour, trafficking and prostitution (sexual aggressors, traffickers, choose their victims from children left unprotected, unsupervised); • Insufficient development of independent life skills: decision making, time and budget management, control and expression of emotions, communication, safety and security etc.; • Poor acquision of moral norms: in the absence of a functional family model, of a safe and coherent environment home alone children will internalize a model of emotional neglect; • Early debut of sex life: teenagers will look for affection and appreciation not just in the group of friends but also in intimate relations. Aside from neglect home alone children may become victims of different forms of abuse and exploitation.

24. Remigrant Children

25. The Remigration of Romanian Children: 2008-2012 • National estimate • Studied the effects of remigration on children (first study in the world) • „The portrait” of the typical remigrant child • Risks associatedwith maladjustment (SDQ – Goodman, 1999) • Perceptionof remigrant children on protective factors;factorswhich inhibit adjustment Daphne JUST/2009/FRAC/AG/0933 - „Children’s rights in action. Improving Children’s rights in migration across Europe.The Romanian Case” Partners: Fondazione„Albero de la Vita”, Fondazione„Iniziative e StudisullaMultietnicita, Universitatde Barcelona, Fundacion„Instituto de ReinsercionSocial, Alternative Sociale Association

26. Quantitative Data

27. Sizeof the phenomenon2008 – May 2012 • Estimate on national level: • ~33.000 during2008-2012 • 7440 between2014-2015, according to the Ministry of Education); • a peakin 2009 when over 11.000 children returned;

28. Qualitative Data

29. Howchildrenreact to returninghome • For most children the emotional state as a result of remigration is a positive one; still, for 16-17% of the children investigated remigration was associated witha moderate or accentuated negative emotional state (shame, sadness, fear, feeling of abandonment and anger); • 20-30% of the children returning to Romaniapresent a significant/majorrisk of developing a specific disorder from the prosocial spectrum: emotional difficulties, behaviour issues, inattentionorrelational. • We approximate that on short and medium term the number of children with serious emotional and psychological issues cause by unassisted migration will grow by1400-1600 children yearly;

30. Emotional impact ... is independent in relation to gender, but it is nuanced by: • residence (significantly higher risk of children from urban areas to develop negative emotions such as anger or sadness, as well as a general negative state compared to children from rural areas); • age (significantly higher risk of children 15-17 years olds to develop a negative emotions such as sadness, fear, feeling of abandonment, as well as a general negative emotional state compared to 12-14 years olds); • contact with the culture of the country of origin; • The period of time spent abroad (the risk of developing negative emotions as a result of remigration becomes significant if the period of migration was longer then 3 years in which case feelings such as anger and sadness are likely to appear).

31. Risks Statistically,significant risks associated with remigration appear in the case: • Children who were not consulted with regards to going abroad; • Children who were not consulted with regards to returning to Romania; • Children who refused to return to Romania; • Children who spent more then 3 years abroad; • Children who want to go back abroad; • Children who admit that they did not adjust – socially or from the education point of view- in Romania; • Children who returned to Romania from countries where Romanian communities are less developed.

32. Profile The analysis of the qualitative data showed that remigrant children: • Know well at least one foreign language; • Are familiarized with a different lifestyle and are nostalgic about it; • They are appreciated abroad for the their school performances and knowledge; • Have a medium to high level of anxiety; • Are fearful; • Are hesitant in establishing and developing relations with adults as well as with their peers; • Have a low confidence in their abilities; • Have a low aspiration level, including with regards to their school performance; • In most cases have to repeat at least a school level (grade) that they graduated from abroad, without understanding why this needs to happen.

33. Resilience theory • „A successful outcome in spite of grave threats to adjustment and development” (Masten 2001, 228) • „the ability to overcome adversities generated by exposure to high risk life situation” (Greene 2008, 77 apud Luca et al. 2012, 50). • ȘerbanIonescu (Ionescu 2011, 4) proposes a definition of the concept based on 3 perspectives: • The capacity to adjust quickly to adversity and to recover after such situations; • An outcome, defined as the absence of mental health problems during or after situations that are know to generate such issues; • Processes that involve an interaction between the subject and the environment and protection factors (individual, of the family and of the environment) which moderate the risk of adversity. • Aside from protective factors, which facilitate the overcoming of the difficult situation risk factors may occur, which may affect the individual’s capacity to adjust.

34. The perception of remigrant children with regards to their own adjustment. Protective factors • From the perspective of the resilience theory (Ionescu 2009, Grotberg 1995), the perception of the remigrant children who believe they adjusted is that their success is mainly due to: • Individual factors (being familiar with life in Romania, self-confidence, ability to ask for help, courage, ability to make decisions, being responsable, being lucky), • Family factors (care and support provided by the family, including the extended family) • Community factors(colleagues, teachers, neighbours). (Luca et al. 2012, 15).

35. The perception of remigrant children with regards to their own adjustment. Inhibiting factors • Children who believe they did not adjust say that the main factors responsible are: • Individual factors(being used to the life abroad, forgetting the life in Romania, lack of self confidence, lack of abilities to ask for help, lack of courage, lack of decision-making abilities), • Community factors (lack of suport from friends, lack of attention from colleagues and teachers) and • Family factors(overburdening with tasks, insufficient parental support, parents’ absence). (Luca et al. 2012, 15).

36. Risks and protective factors • In general (in approximately half of the situations) the children migrates and remigrates with both parents(may be an important protective factor in the emotional development and social development of children). • In the case of the labour migration of one of the parents, regardless if it’s the mother or the father, the child stays with the mother. If the mother stays behind, the child stays with the mother, if the mother migrates she takes the child along. • In nearly 30% of the cases the children were already separated from their parents working abroad when they emigrated (the children were “home alone” before migrating). In the case of these children three contexts overlap, which may contain risk factors with regards to their development: the separation, the emigration and the remigration. • The period of time spent abroad varies, but for nearly half of the children it is longer then 3 years. Thismay pose a risk to theirreadjustment.

37. Thank you! • Alexandru Gulei agulei@alternativesociale.ro www.alternativesociale.ro www.antitrafic.ro www.profitpentruoameni.ro www.singuracasa.ro