Moldova, Italy make effort to help children left behind

The Moldovan and Italian authorities decided to join efforts in order to better manage migration through the Addressing the Negative Effects of Migration on Minors and Families Left Behind Project, Info-Prim Neo reports. A census will be taken within the project among children who remained without parental care. “There are children who live with the grandmother or aunt, but the authorities do not know that their parents went abroad. There are no official figures. The Ministry of Education uses the information about the children attending school, while the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family identifies these children according to their official status. The census will allow determining the situation of these children so that the community social workers can offer them assistance,” said Viorica Dumbraveanu, head of the Labor Ministry’s Family and Child Rights Protection Division. Under the project, the parents who went to work in Italy will be provided legal, psychological and social assistance. There will be established contacts between the parents and children and launched a campaign to raise awareness of the effects of migration. The play “Nobody’s Persons” will be staged in four regions of Italy within the campaign. The Addressing the Negative Effects of Migration on Minors and Families Left Behind Project is part of a thematic program for cooperation with third countries in the areas of migration and asylum, which is financed by the European Commission and co-financed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies of Italy. The project’s budget is €2 million. The money will cover the implemented activities during two years. An estimated 105,000 Moldovans work in Italy. According to ministries’ statistics, about 150,000 children remained without the care of one or both of the parents, who went to work abroad.