Abstract
For many years, thousands of children in Moldova had to stay behind while their parents migrated abroad for a better income. This article reflects on the impact of parental migration on young adults’ future aspirations and prospects. The research presented here is based on grounded theory research that includes interviews with former stay-behind children. The children’s plans for their future are not only shaped by the difficult conditions prevailing in the Moldovan labour market. In addition, they are influenced by their parents’ experience of strongly regulated migration and their hope to give their children a better life. Due to their parents’ support and their own educational performance, these young adults find easier conditions for migration and are able to shape their prospective family life in a way that avoids leaving their children behind.
Introduction
Since 1991, the Republic of Moldova, bordering the EU, has been developing into a country of mass migration. Because of the political and economic instability following the country’s independence, Moldovans increasingly earn their living abroad. The positive economic outcome of migration can be observed on the household level, as well as on the level of the overall economy: in 2006, remittances amounted to 34.5 per cent of GDP and in 2022, they remained significant at 14 per cent (World Bank, 2024b). At the same time, poverty has been decreasing. In 1999, 33.5 per cent of the population lived on US$ 2.15 per day. 20 years later, this share has dropped to 0 per cent. At the same time, the share of the population living from US$ 6.85 per day decreased from 90 per cent to 15 per cent (World Bank, 2024c, 2024d). Today, Moldova is still one of the poorest among the former Soviet countries (World Bank, 2024a). However, remittances cover daily needs and allow for a few amenities. Living standards are improving and households can afford washing machines, freezers, cars, computers and other consumer goods (Lücke and Stöhr, 2013). Thus, migration could be framed in positive terms, but is discussed mostly with regard to its perceived negative social consequences instead. The fact that 23 per cent of Moldovan children (Ramsak, 2019) are left behind by their migrant parents creates a feeling of social disorder for which migrant mothers are primarily blamed. In 2013, at the time I conducted my research, a strong disapproving social discourse had evolved around this topic (Seidel, 2024) and is still present today (Hossu et al, 2023). According to this discourse, a whole generation seems to be negatively affected by their parents’ migration. Yet, little is known about the concerned children’s perception. What happens to these children when they grow older? What plans do they have for their own future and how are their aspirations and prospects related to their parents’ migration?
To answer these questions, I will first elaborate on migration movements, regulations and patterns in Moldova, as they pose the context for the parents’ migration experience and the younger generation’s aspirations. I will then continue to outline existing knowledge on stay-behind children in Moldova and these children’s future aspirations in general. The ensuing methodology chapter will include a short reflection on the cases at the centre of this article. The empirical part presents aspects that are relevant to the aspirations, plans and prospects of the young adult former stay-behind children, aiming at increasing the understanding of these young adults’ future aspirations and of the direct and indirect ways their parents’ migration contributed to them.
Change in migration patterns and regulations in Moldova
Among the generation of parents who left the country in the 1990s and 2000s, migration was mainly caused by unemployment, low wages and the wish to meet their family’s daily needs (Cheianu-Andrei, 2013; Tabac and Gagauz, 2020). Their migration experience was affected by the varying strictness of migration policies and regulations of the destination countries. Due to proximity and lack of visa requirements, thus making migration more feasible, until 2000 the great majority of Moldovan labour migrants went to Russia or Ukraine. Most of them were men who worked in the construction sector and commuted between the countries where they work and Moldova. Typically, they saw their families every few months, for holidays and other occasions. In time, migration became increasingly feminised. Due to the particular demand for ‘female’ labour in the service and care sector in Italy and other EU countries, Israel and Turkey, most women went west or south. The relatively high income also attracted migrants to the EU. Until the mid-2010s, EU law offered few opportunities for Moldovan labour migrants to enter the EU legally. As a result, many women went undocumented and therefore had to stay abroad for long periods (Tabac and Gagauz, 2020). Usually, migrants of this generation relied on social networks that had been created between current migrants, former migrants and non-migrants in the countries of destination and origin, and were grounded on friendship, area of origin and kinship. Such networks are most effective in regard to the international migration of low or unqualified workers (Elrick, 2008) and reduce the costs and risks involved in the migration process (Massey et al, 1993). The effectiveness of these networks was evident, as Moldovan migrants to certain countries often originated from specific counties in Moldova (to Italy from Anenii Noi, to Portugal from Ungheni and to the UK from Ialoveni). Two thirds of the Moldovan migrants to Italy found work through the support of acquaintances or relatives and chose the destination country because of these relations (Cheianu-Andrei, 2013). One way to officially enter the EU was the common but lengthy bureaucratic process of acquiring Romanian citizenship by proving Romanian descent. The number of Moldovans choosing this option sharply increased after Romania became part of the EU and after the acquisition process was simplified (Iordachi, 2013). In 2014, Moldova signed the Association Agreement with the EU, which included visa liberalisations for the Schengen countries. A few years earlier, Moldova and the main destinations in the EU (Italy, Spain, Portugal) had agreed on contracts regarding labour migrants which included amnesty for undocumented migrants (Tabac and Gagauz, 2020). These developments made migration easier for many. Nevertheless, under the Association Agreement Moldova was also obliged to contribute to the return of ‘illegal’ migrants and border surveillance (Association Agenda between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova, 2014), thus migration remained under strict EU control.
Among second-generation migrants, who started migrating during the 2010s and whose parents already had worked abroad, reasons for migration are still strongly connected to ongoing economic instability in Moldova, making it impossible for young people to earn a living substantial enough to master the transition to adulthood as desired. In a study by Abbott et al (2010: 588), three quarters of the researched 16- to 30-year-olds stated ‘having paid employment is the most important thing in life’. Many found it hard to find such a job, were unemployed or did not find sufficiently paid work. For people in rural areas, it was even harder and for a large part, they secured their livelihoods by subsistence farming and as day labourers. Due to the lack of independent housing, many young people did not feel in a position to start a family. In 2016, the ILO published a study on the school-to-work transition of Moldovan youth. According to this study, only one third of the respondents (age 15 – 29) had a regular, paid job, a low number compared to other countries in this region. Their average monthly salary was 2,771 MDL (about US$145) (Ganta and Shamchiyeva, 2016). Since then, the situation has not changed much. In a more current study among 20- to 35-year-olds, only 16.5 per cent stated to be ‘fully financially insured’. Thirty-five per cent were financially dependent on their parents. This was still true for 22 per cent of the respondents aged 30 to 34 years (Gagauz and Chivaciuc, 2021: 96). Accordingly, the percentage of young people intent on leaving the country has increased over the years. And while Russia remains one of the major destinations for current emigrants and circular migrants, the EU countries became more desirable for the majority of those still aspiring to migrate (Tabac and Gagauz, 2020). The latest numbers show a still rising count of young migrants, as well as increasing numbers migrating to the EU overall (Gagauz et al, 2023). On the political level, migration to the EU seems to be increasingly restricted by laws and regulations or border-securing measures. But, as De Haas et al (2018) note, migration politics are rather focused on the selection of migrants. While migration of asylum seekers and low-skilled workers from poorer (‘third’) countries like Moldova has increasingly been seen as a problem that needs to be ‘brought under control’ and is therefore persistently constrained, the migration of highly skilled migrants and those from certain richer regions is favoured and supported. In this context, a migration pattern more conforming to these politics is the migration to Romania for educational purposes, based on gaining Romanian citizenship and the great range of scholarships offered by Romanian universities (Hossu, 2018). Thus, a growing number of young Moldovans study abroad, most of them in Romania (Grigoraș, 2014).
State of research on stay-behind children in Moldova
In the past, research on stay-behind children often focused on their mental or physical wellbeing, as well as educational performance (Antia et al, 2020). Regarding Moldova, representative quantitative research shows that, unlike the situation in neighbouring Romania (Botezat and Pfeiffer, 2019), few Moldovan stay-behind children show worse emotional symptoms than children with non-migrant parents (Vanore et al, 2015). In general, there are no worse outcomes in regard to health (Cebotari et al, 2018) and education (Cebotari et al, 2016). These results don’t dismiss the grieve these children might suffer from, but research findings show that most children and their families seem to better cope with their situation than assumed, while negative effects are mostly related to specific risk factors, such as emotional or verbal abuse by caregivers or long-term physical illness.
Other researchers turned to the societal level. One important issue they raise is the negative social discourse in Moldova, as well as the whole region (Ukraine, Poland and Romania), that predominantly blames migrant mothers for virtually abandoning their children and exposing them to various possible risks and potential mental or physical harm (Lutz and Palga-Möllenbeck, 2011; Tymczuk, 2011; Ducu, 2013; Seidel, 2022). Researchers criticise how international organisations and NGOs along with local media fuelled this discourse by their reports and created an unbalanced image of transnational families and their children (Cojocaru, 2013; Seidel, 2022). As a result of this discourse, parents feel under pressure (Hossu et al, 2023) and some children suffer from stigmatisation (Seidel, 2022) because they are seen as not fulfilling social norms. Under such conditions, Moldovan parents in general, and mothers in particular, often feel the need to justify their migration by reframing it as a sacrifice made in order to provide for their children (Hofmann and Buckley, 2013; Keough, 2016; Hossu et al, 2023). These justifications also align with general worries in Moldovan society about children’s future, making them not just a defence against the discourse, but a valid concern of parents (Seidel, 2024). Moldovan youths are well acquainted with their parents’ arguments and they themselves describe their migration as done ‘for the children’ and as an unavoidable necessity to give them a ‘better life’ or a ‘better future’ (Douillet, 2018; Seidel, 2024).
The future aspirations of former stay-behind children have rarely been investigated. Even so, in the existing literature, their own migration is a core topic with regard to their future plans. Among Moldovan college students whose parents had migrated, Douillet (2018) found a strong tendency towards upward mobility connected to the idea of pursuing a professional career abroad. In contrast, in the study by De Los Reyes (2023) on such teenagers in the Philippines, they did not necessarily connect their ideas of a ‘good life’ with going abroad. As they were aware of the possible difficulties and disadvantages connected to international migration, they had dreams of finding work and living with their future family in their current locality. Research among stay-behind children in Ghana revealed a great tendency towards migration (Coe, 2012; Osei et al, 2022). Depending on structural conditions and the degree of parental support, young Ghanaians adapted their hopes and plans to their capabilities. Many initially pursued higher degrees of education in line with the idea of preparing for later migration (Osei et al, 2022). In this article, I wish to contribute to an understanding of former stay-behind children’s future aspirations by including findings that acquired increasing significance during the analysis, such as the importance of tertiary education, images of the different countries relevant to this case and specific notions of a ‘better life’ that shape young adults’ aspirations and their parents’ contribution to them.
Methodology and introduction to the cases
This contribution is based on the results of the research I conducted for my dissertation on former stay-behind children in the Republic of Moldova. It is framed within the methodological approach of the grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014) and aimed to find out how these young adults reflect on the experience of being separated from one or both parents, how they position themselves in relation to their parents’ migration and how they feel their biographies were affected by it. To answer these questions, I conducted participant observation in my transnationally living host family, a content analysis (Mayring, 2000) of media reports, as well as 13 interviews with different participants relevant to the topic. This article draws on six semi-structured interviews with former stay-behind children, which are at the core of the overall research. The interviewees were young adults between 20 and 28 years, whose parents had worked abroad from 4 to 19 years. They were recruited by snowball sampling, starting with my personal contacts in Moldova. An important reason for choosing these specific cases was their differing experience, depending on which parent migrated and under which conditions. I conducted these interviews during a research stay in 2013 in Moldova, as well as in 2012 and 2013 in Germany, where some of the interviewees had come for educational purposes. The interview languages were Russian, a language that many Moldovans speak fluently, and German. The analysis relied on the coding techniques of the grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014). Table 1 gives a first overview of the cases.
Basic information on the interviewees
| Interviewee | Constantin | Sara | Anica | Katya | Nastya | Maria |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of birth | 1985 | 1987 | 1990 | 1985 | 1990 | 1993 |
| Migrated parent | Father | Father | Father | Mother | Mother | Father & mother |
| Caregiver | Mother | Mother | Mother | None (stayed alone) | Father | Grandmother |
| Year of first migration | 1992 | 1992 | 2003 | 2002 | 2005 | Father 1997/ mother 2002 |
| Area of employment | Construction | Construction | Highly skilled (university lecturer) | Service | Service/ care | Construction/ service |
As research shows, it is usually not the poorest of the poor who migrate internationally (Murrugarra et al, 2011; De Haas et al, 2018) and, accordingly, the parents of my interviewees were not the most underprivileged in society. Nevertheless, five out of six mention that without migration it would have been hard or impossible for their parents to provide for the family or for the education of their children. In two cases (Sara’s and Constantin’s), for example, the father started migrating in the early 1990s, because the parents had difficulty paying their rent and earning a living. Maria’s father migrated at a similar time. His wife later joined him and Maria stayed with her grandmother. Another case is Katya, Constantin’s wife, who grew up in very modest circumstances, as her mother was single and without any further support. She migrated when Katya was a teenager because she had no other possibility to finance her daughter’s planned studies. Katya remained on her own. In Nastya’s case, the mother migrated at a time when the family felt it was no longer possible to live from the father’s income alone. One interviewee, Anica, is an exception since both parents worked at a university and did not face as much financial pressure as the other interviewees’ families. Her father commuted to Romania for a higher income, while remaining in his profession as a university lecturer. Despite these differences, they all have in common that they grew up in well-functioning families where, from the children’s perspectives, their parents’ migration was quite successful. All families had an affinity for education, despite the parents’ different education levels (secondary or tertiary education). Moreover, all came from villages close to or directly from the capital of Moldova, thus having relatively easy access to educational opportunities.
Young adults’ aspirations: a ‘better life’ abroad
In general terms, the plans of the young people interviewed reflect their parents’ justification of deciding to migrate. These justifications can also be read as the parents’ aspirations for their children. Their statements ‘giving the children a better future’ is not only a phrase; they do indeed support their children in building a future. In all cases, the young adults strove for a ‘better future’ or ‘better life’, as their parents had for them. Although some parents may have primarily focused on enhancing their children’s education and improving their lives in Moldova, it seemed clear to the young adults themselves that there was no opportunity to build a future in the country. Instead, they are convinced of finding a ‘better life’ abroad. Anica, for example, elaborates on Moldovan migrants in the EU and concludes: ‘… they know that life is better there’, as if that was an obvious, commonly known fact.
And I think that if my parents hadn’t gone to Portugal, I would never have gone to Germany or now to Romania to study. Because I’ve been to Germany once, twice. And they want something for me. When they saw how it is in another country, the life, the relationships, the children, the opportunities and when they came home, they wanted me to see that too, to feel that, to have those feelings, to have that opportunity to study abroad and see a different life. […] And I have the possibility to go to Germany and maybe to have better work and in the future, I will be able to support them. (Maria)
This quote indicates some of the relevant aspects associated with a ‘better life’ and its achievement: the importance of tertiary education, the positive image of life in a different (that is, West European) country and notions of the life aspired (‘better work’, having certain opportunities). In the following sections, each aspect will be further elaborated.
Parental support for education
Education proved to be an important topic throughout the interviews. From the young adults’ narratives, it is possible to conclude that their parents see a good education – that is tertiary education – as a precondition for the better future they want to give them. They work for the necessary funds and, in some cases, their children’s university education becomes a major motive for their migration. The financial support is not only limited to paying university fees, but may include financing their children’s daily expenses as well, which might include housing costs, or special needs, like expensive textbooks. The interviews show that the young adults internalised the great significance their parents place in their education. They understand very well that their parents work abroad to support them during their years at university and follow their ideas and implicit expectations to study successfully: they themselves strive for the education their parents want them to achieve and, also, link it to their future prospects. Nastya, for example, knew that her mother did not work abroad ‘for herself, but that she was doing it for us. That she’s doing it so that we have a future, so that we don’t have to worry about it, […] about our studies and all that.’
In Katya’s case, it is even more obvious that she has fulfilled her mother’s wish to achieve a good degree. Her mother explicitly went abroad to finance her studies, and support her daughter’s wish to study medicine. Katya finished school when her mother was already in Russia. With her good final grades, she received a scholarship and ‘didn’t need the money [anymore] to go to university’. Still, the scholarship was ‘very little’ and her mother sent her ‘money for clothes, for food and so on. [...] In other words, Mum did everything she could to provide for me during this phase of my studies.’ Now that she has successfully completed her studies, a time during which she even spent a year in France for practical training, Katya describes her mother as being very proud of her. In her daughter’s success, the mother can see her own merit and Katya believes her mother is right: without her support, she would not have been able to succeed in such a way.
Based on the education their parents helped them achieve, the interviewees have good opportunities to find the life they aspire to. Most of them have already had the chance to gain some international experience during their school years or studies. Katya has studied in France for a year; Constantin and Nastya participated in a work-and-travel-programme in the US; Nastya, Maria and Anica went to a school with a German language focus and were thereby able to visit Germany for a few weeks. They belong to a group of ‘urban, cosmopolitan and sharp’ (Douillet, 2018: 233) youth that, on the basis of their higher education, language skills and experience, are in a relatively good position for the labour market of Western Europe and for upward mobility. As students and highly skilled migrants, they have a chance to settle in the EU, as they belong to the ‘desired’ migrants. In this, they are more privileged than other young people of their generation. A great number of people, especially young men from rural areas, already go abroad after finishing secondary school and continue following their fathers’ path to Russia or Ukraine (Lücke and Stöhr, 2013; Hossu, 2018). An explanation for not continuing their education lies in the different expectations towards boys and girls, but also in the easy access to low-skilled labour through their fathers’ networks (Lücke and Stöhr, 2013). The interviewees, instead, no longer need to rely on the networks of their parents’ generation. However, they are aware that their parents helped get them into their current positions and that, without support, they would not have had the opportunity to study.
Images of Western Europe and Moldova
because in Moldova it is very, very difficult to get out of the country and – at the beginning my parents also questioned how it would work out and alone and just 17 years old, young. Yes, but then it worked out, I got the visa and came to Germany and did my voluntary social year.
Sara’s reference to the difficulty of leaving the country suggests that she had never planned to go to Russia or any other country she could have entered relatively easily. Instead, she seemed to automatically associate migration with Western Europe, where it was indeed difficult to go, at the time. Since her father had once gone to England undocumented and been deported from there – a traumatising experience – the family had had first-hand experience of the EU’s political restrictions on Moldovan migrants and possibly valued the opportunity for their daughter to leave officially. Even though they worried very much about her, the parents supported her plan. At the time of the interview, Sara had been living in Germany for some years, a time in which she had experienced economically difficult times, and she reflected on the fact that life in Germany is not always as easy and beautiful as it seems to be from the perspective of some people in Moldova. Despite these difficulties, she has good reasons for staying (for example, being socially integrated) and has never thought of going back. Still, her story highlights the idealised image the family maintained of Germany and, at the same time, their perception of life in Moldova as frustrating.
The latter becomes more visible in the statements of those who either compare Moldova to another country themselves or cite their parents’ comparative perspectives, as Maria does in the statement quoted earlier. Some interviewees seem to have adopted their parents’ perspectives or added their own impressions fed by their foreign experience. As a result, a negative image of Moldova is being created, which complements the positive image of Western Europe and adds to the young adults’ urge to seek their future abroad. When Maria describes her parents’ view, it becomes palpable how impressed her parents must have been by the great range of opportunities people, and children in particular, could enjoy and the contrast to the limited prospects in Moldova. Maria seems to share this perspective. Moreover, she, like Anica, criticises ‘the mentality’ of Moldovans and ‘how they think’. Both describe this mindset as one of their reasons for seeking a future abroad. Nastya’s case supports the impression that some former stay-behind children adopt their parents’ notions about different regions. Nastya quotes her mother who, after coming home, complained about the grumpiness and rudeness she perceived in Moldovan society in contrast to the friendliness and politeness perceived by her in Spain. Nastya also quotes her mother’s conclusion: ‘six years in Spain was enough for me to understand that you can’t live like this here [in Moldova], that this is no life’. Nastya finishes the description of her mother’s thoughts by commenting: ‘Through her, I see this place, this life, that —’. This unfinished sentence shows that her mother’s narrative shapes Nastya’s own perspective on life in Moldova and life abroad.
It is noteworthy that despite these positive descriptions, life abroad had never been easy for the parents. Maria’s father had suffered from a severe accident on the construction site where he was working, which forced him to leave his place of work for a long period of time. Nastya’s mother, overwhelmed with fear, had crossed the European border undocumented. As she told them later, being so far away from her family for years, she had constantly worried about their wellbeing. Moreover, she had worked in the service sector and cleaned other people’s houses – something Nastya felt a bit ashamed of. Nevertheless, the idea of a better life abroad prevails. Unlike the young people in De Los Reyes’ (2023) study, none of my interviewees plan on seeking their future in Moldova, even though they show great understanding of the difficulties and hardships their parents suffered. I see the reason for this in the shared images and narratives, told and retold by parents and children alike, as well as the value parents put on the experience of seeing new places and the ‘different life’ they encountered abroad.
Young adults’ plans and aspirations
When it comes to the interviewees’ specific future aspirations, the above-mentioned aspects representing a ‘good life’ are at the core of their arguments. Although the interviewees do not go into much detail, probably because they view them as self-explanatory given the difficult living situation in Moldova, their ideas are elaborated on further in the following.
Most often, the interviewees discuss their (future) possibility of earning a living. In this context, the interviews indicate that migration for their generation became a natural strategy to cope with the problems of the labour market: a culture of migration (Massey et al, 1993) has developed. That migrant parents by their migration set an example for their children, becomes vividly clear by Constantin’s comparison between his current situation and his parents’ at the beginning of the 1990s. At the time of the interview, he is about to finish his specialist training as a doctor and is still living with Katya in the university dormitory. They are looking for a place of their own and plan on having children, but Constantin does not feel in a position to develop any further as he ‘encountered the same problems, you could say, that my parents encountered in my early childhood, when they struggled with my sister and me to somehow survive’. He openly speaks of his low wages during his specialist training: ‘I earn 1,100 lei. That’s about 70 euros. The university deducts about 470 lei for this room. That’s 30 euros a month.’ Even though he works 40 hours a week plus two extra shifts per month, he takes on extra work in the emergency department to supplement his income. Subsequently, he works more than 30 hours straight several times a month, which is ‘a bit exhausting’. Constantin uses this example to illustrate how hard people in Moldova are struggling to earn a substantial living and concludes that many, including himself, want to leave the country for this reason. Thus, they continue to apply their parents’ strategy to cope with the situation. Moreover, the economic inequality between their own country and their destinations, especially the EU, and the better income possibilities abroad must have been very tangible for the interviewees, when they profited from their parents’ income. Hence, the search for income opportunities abroad and the general culture of migration is reinforced by the aforementioned comparison of the different regions. Nastya, for example, reflects on the wage differences between Moldova and other countries. After participating in a work-and-travel-stay in the US, she concludes ‘that you can work, practically without working’ and, nonetheless, earn much more than in Moldova. She further argues that wages Moldovans like her mother could earn in Spain might not be high on local standards, but were ‘extremely high’ compared with average Moldovan wages. She adds: ‘And that certainly moves everyone – that it is better there.’ Nastya also doesn’t ‘want to stay here either. Because I understand that there is no future for me in this country. Only if you do it like this, [working] abroad, not living there, but having some kind of career and only coming back here sometimes.’ Her statement shows that she, on her way to a ‘better life’, plans to follow her mother’s example, as well.
Accordingly, the young people’s transition to adulthood is embedded in this culture of migration. They see a decent income earned abroad as a precondition for finding their own place to live and start a family. Based on their own experience of being a stay-behind child in the past, they don’t want their children to experience the same. Maria, Nastya and Katya had suffered emotionally from their parents’ absence, while the others did not suffer to the same extent. But for none of them transnational family life became a norm or desirable condition and therefore staying together as a family represents another aspect of the ‘better life’ they strive for. So, when asked whether they would leave their own (possible) children behind, none of the interviewees answered in the affirmative. As none of them, except Sara, have children yet, this question is solely hypothetical. Sara is very clear in her response: ‘No. No. That’s out of the question. No. No. [laughs] I can’t imagine. No, that’s out of the question.’ Some (Nastya and Maria) would, to a certain degree, follow their parents’ example. Thinking about a possible scenario in which they would leave own children behind, they turn towards the same justifications applied by their parents and refer to the argument of necessity: They might do so for a short period, but only, if absolutely necessary. But they primarily think of strategies to forestall having to leave children behind and would like to deviate from their parents’ path. All plan to stay together as a family, for example, by moving abroad together. For Constantin and Katya, this question is of practical relevance in their current situation and impacts their direct plans for a shared future. Constantin finds that his current living and working conditions do not allow him to meet his wish for children. At the same time, he feels pressured by his parents and friends to have children as according to them it is time to have them. But he doesn’t want to repeat what he experienced: ‘I understand that it’s exactly the same problem. Someone has to stay with the child, someone has to go away.’ That’s not the kind of family he wants to start. His hope is to be able to ‘build our own cosy little corner that we won’t have to move away from’ soon.
I hated this country for taking my mother away from me for such a long time [...] I blamed the country above all. I complained that we had such people, such parliaments, that they had done this. If my mother had been the only one out of a few thousand – but we have one million abroad.
While, as stated above, the social discourse blames migrant parents for the children’s suffering, Nastya puts forth a different vantage point by claiming that the state did not care for its citizens sufficiently, thus actually being directly or indirectly responsible for the children’s distress. Constantin likewise criticises the inefficiency of social structures and federal welfare for people in need. He passionately describes the difficult situation of children he observed during his work in the hospital and in his village. He claims it was ‘incomprehensible, actually there is a state, ministries, there are social services, but if you look at the general welfare not of the adults, but at the condition of the children, then it’s terrible’. According to him, this is another reason for people to leave the country and he has no hope of improvement. As a consequence, he feels disconnected from the Moldovan state and wants to leave, too. The only positive ties to his country are in his personal relationships and the surroundings he used to live in. The interviewees’ explanations for their dissatisfaction and Constantin’s statement, in particular, are clear examples of what Abbott et al (2010) describe as the ‘system disintegration’ of young people in regard to different aspects of citizenship in Moldova. Their respondents felt, like Constantin, socially integrated in their local community by strong and supportive relationships with family and friends. However, the ongoing political and economic crisis, the lack of support from the welfare state and the growing distrust in the government and state institutions, caused many young people to feel disconnected from the state system on a political, economic and social level. They felt alienated from the state as a formal institution and did not expect support or positive political change from this side. As a result, many looked for opportunities abroad. In this respect, the dissatisfaction of my respondents matches the general mood well.
While all the previous comments predominantly establish what they don’t want, some interviewees also talk more specifically about how they want to actively shape their ‘better’ future. As illustrated before, some strive for an individualised lifestyle that they link to opportunities they mostly see abroad. Nastya, for example, has many plans and projects she wants to achieve. Before starting a family, she is ‘trying to find so many opportunities to develop myself and so I’m trying to learn more languages’. After finishing her master’s degree, she plans to start another bachelor’s degree and wants to travel ‘abroad and for me that’s very important’. She also wants ‘to see something, see a bit, be a bit selfish, live for myself and then I can have a family and children and so on’. Maria, similarly, still wants to ‘see life in other countries’. As her parents had wished her to, she wants to enjoy the opportunities she has now. At the same time, she thinks about supporting her parents as they age. The other interviewees don’t mention such ideas, which underlines the impression that their migration is focused on their own needs or their individual plans for the moment.
Years after the interviews, many of their aspirations have been fulfilled. Maria continued her studies abroad. After completing her master’s degree, Nastya worked at an international organisation for a short period of time and then pursued her dream of attending another bachelor’s degree in South Korea. Anica found a job suitable to her studies and is currently working in Germany. Sara has completed her studies and is the head of a kindergarten in Germany. After learning the language, Katya also went to Germany and worked as a doctor in a hospital. Eventually, Constantin joined her. As they had planned, they found employment, established a home and now have a child.
Conclusion
This article contributes to the empirical knowledge of stay-behind children’s aspirations by looking more closely at the connection between parental migration and their children’s future aspirations. It not only refers to the importance of a general culture of migration that developed due to the continuous migration of the parents’ generation and which justifies the normalcy of former stay-behind children’s wish to build their own future abroad, but it also expounds the specific aspects of the importance of education, the strong presence of certain images of a ‘better life’ in West European countries and the persisting discontent with the Moldovan economy and state. The aspirations and prospects of the young adults in the cases given are interrelated with their parents’ migration in many ways: obviously, their parents’ aspirations are reflected in their own migration. The parents also set an example with their plans and strategies to cope with the labour market difficulties in Moldova. With their parents’ financial support, the former stay-behind children were able to achieve higher levels of education and choose new and easier ways of migration. With improved opportunities, their motives also changed. While the lack of adequately paid employment is central to their argument, this motive is also intertwined with a desire for professional self-fulfilment and the aspiration to enjoy a good life. For them, migration is not a sacrifice they are expected to bring for their family, but at the time of the interview, it also meant, they were able to focus on their successful transition to adulthood or, as in Nastya’s case, delay this transition on purpose. Thus, some interviewees link the necessity of migration to the notion of personal development, enjoyment and an individualised lifestyle that gives them the opportunity to become acquainted with life in other countries or enjoy different educational possibilities. Thus, for my interviewees at least, it is possible to conclude that their parents were quite successful in providing their children with the ‘better life’ to which they aspired. In view of the general trends in migration from Moldova, this seems to be true for a growing number of young Moldovans and, in light of the current difficult situation in Eastern Europe, even more people might follow this path to Western Europe. It is unlikely that they will ever have to leave their own children behind.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the editors of this special issue and the two reviewers for their valuable suggestions and feedback on this article.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
References
Abbott, P., Wallace, C., Mascauteanu, M. and Sapsford, R. (2010) Concepts of citizenship, social and system integration among young people in post-Soviet Moldova, Journal of Youth Studies, 13(5): 581–96. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2010.489605
Antia, K., Boucsein, J., Deckert, A., Dambach, P., Racaitè, J., Surkiené, G., Jaenisch, T., Horstick, O. and Winkler, V. (2020) Effects of international labour migration on the mental health and well-being of left-behind children: a systematic literature review, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(12): 4335. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17124335
Association Agenda between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova (2014) https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/resources/documents/customs/policy_issues/international_customs_agreements/geomoldukr/eu_moldova_association_agenda_26_06.pdf.
Botezat, A. and Pfeiffer, F. (2019) The impact of parental labour migration on left-behind children’s educational and psychosocial outcomes: evidence from Romania, Population, Space and Place, 26(2): e2277. doi: 10.1002/psp.2277
Cebotari, V., Siegel, M. and Mazzucato, V. (2016) Migration and the education of children who stay behind in Moldova and Georgia, International Journal of Educational Development, 51: 96–107. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2016.09.002
Cebotari, V., Siegel, M. and Mazzucato, V. (2018) Migration and child health in Moldova and Georgia, Comparative Migration Studies, 6(1): 3. doi: 10.1186/s40878-017-0068-9
Charmaz, K. (2014) Constructing Grounded Theory, 2nd edn, Los Angeles: Sage.
Cheianu-Andrei, D. (2013) Mapping of the Moldovan Diaspora in Italy, Portugal, France and the United Kingdom: Moldovan Diaspora Mapping Series II, Chișinău: International Organization for Migration, http://iom.md/attachments/110_raportfinaleng.pdf.
Coe, C. (2012) Growing up and going abroad: how Ghanaian children imagine transnational migration, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(6): 913–31. doi: 10.1080/1369183x.2012.677173
Cojocaru, S. (2013) Rhetoric about vulnerabilities of childhood in family migration. Ad hoc research and methodological errors, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 92: 202–6. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.08.660
De Haas, H., Czaika, M., Flahaux, M.L., Mahendra, E., Natter, K., Vezzoli, S. and Villares-Varela, M. (2018) International Migration: Trends, Determinants and Policy Effects, Working Paper, Amsterdam, www.migrationinstitute.org/publications/international-migration-trends-determinants-and-policy-effects.
Douillet, C. (2018) Children of migration: hopes and tensions over border-crossing in Moldova, Journal of European Studies, 48(3–4): 223–34. doi: 10.1177/0047244118796077
Ducu, V. (2013) Romanian migrant women’s response to their discrimination, in T. Geisen (ed) Migration, Familie und Soziale Lage: Beiträge zu Bildung, Gender und Care, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp 195–212. doi: 10.1007/978-3-531-94127-1_10
Elrick, T. (2008) Networks and their influence on migration policy. Conclusions from the Romanian-Spanish migration space, Focus migration Policy Brief No. 11, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, https://www.bpb.de/system/files/pdf/1UNEU4.pdf.
Gagauz, O. and Chivaciuc, A. (2021) Youth attitudes towards gender roles within family, Economy and Sociology, (2021.1): 87–98. doi: 10.36004/nier.es.2021.1-08
Gagauz, O., Tabac, T. and Pahomii, I. (2023) Depopulation in Moldova: the main challenge in the context of extremly high emigration, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 21. doi: 10.1553/p-ke2z-76zz
Ganta, V. and Shamchiyeva, L. (2016) Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men in the Republic of Moldova: Results of the 2013 and 2015 School-to-work Wtransition Surveys, Geneva: International Labour Organization, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_498766.pdf.
Grigoraș, E. (2014) Mobilitatea academică a studenților din Republica Moldova, Revistă de Filosofie, Sociologie şi ştinţe politice, (2): 228–34.
Hofmann, E.T. and Buckley, C.J. (2013) Global changes and gendered responses: the feminization of migration from Georgia, International Migration Review, 47(3): 508–38. doi: 10.1111/imre.12035
Hossu, I.E. (2018) ‘‘Our Westerner’: the role of Romanian-naturalized youth in reconfiguring Moldavian transnational families, in V. Ducu, M. Nedelcu and Á. Telegdi-Csetri (eds) Childhood and Parenting in Transnational Settings, Cham: Springer, pp 63–82.
Hossu, I.E., Telegdi-Csetri, A., Birou, M. and Haragus, M. (2023) ‘Not like everyone else?’ Transnational families’ relationship in their home society – between stigma and dialogue, Ukrainian Society, 84(1): 54–73. doi: 10.15407/socium2023.01.054
Iordachi, C. (2013) Country Report: Romania, Badia Fiesolana: Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.
Keough, L.J. (2016) Worker-Mothers on the Margins of Europe: Gender and Migration between Moldova and Istanbul, Washington D.C., Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
De Los Reyes, E.J. (2023) Refusing the mobility imperative among the left-behind generation in the Northern Philippines, in D. Bühler-Niederberger, X. Gu, J. Schwittek, and Kim, E. (eds) The Emerald Handbook of Childhood and Youth in Asian Societies, Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited, pp 301–20. doi: 10.1108/978-1-80382-283-920231019
Lücke, M. and Stöhr, T. (2013) The Effects of Migration in Moldova and Georgia on Children and Elderly Left Behind: Country Report: Moldova (Draft), Kiel: The Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Lutz, H. and Palenga-Möllenbeck, E. (2011) Care, gender and migration: towards a theory of transnational domestic work migration in Europe, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 19(3): 349–64. doi: 10.1080/14782804.2011.610605
Massey, D.S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A. and Taylor, E., (1993) Theories of international migration: a review and appraisal, Population and Development Review, 19(3): 431–66. doi: 10.2307/2938462
Mayring, P. (2000) Qualitative inhaltsanalyse, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research [On-line Journal], 1(2). http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1089/2384.
Murrugarra, E., Larrison, J. and Sasin, M. (eds) (2011) Migration and Poverty: Towards Better Opportunities for the Poor, Washington, DC: The World Bank. doi: 10.1596/978-0-8213-8436-7
Osei, O.E., Mazzucato, V. and Haagsman, K. (2022) Aspiring while waiting: temporality and pacing of Ghanaian stayer youth’s migration aspirations, Social Inclusion, 10(4). doi: 10.17645/si.v10i4.5662
Ramsak, A. (2019) Update of the Situation of Children and Youth in the Republic of Moldova: 2016–2019, Chișinău: UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/moldova/media/6046/file/2019%20Light%20SitAn%20UNICEF%20Moldova.pdf.
Seidel, F. (2022) Zurückgelassene Kinder in der Republik Moldau. Gesellschaftliche Bilder und Perspektiven der Betroffenen, Familiendynamik, 47(3): 192–99. doi: 10.21706/fd-47-3-192
Seidel, F. (2024) Zurückgelassene Kinder im Kontext Moldauischer Arbeitsmigration. Perspektiven Ehemals Betroffener, Leverkusen-Opladen: Budrich.
Tabac, T. and Gagauz, O. (2020) Migration from Moldova: trajectories and implications for the country of origin, in M. Light, S. Strozza and M. Denisenko (eds) Migration From the Newly Independent States: 25 Years After the Collapse of the USSR, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp 143–68. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_7
Transparency International Moldova (2017) State Capture: The Case of the Republic of Moldova, Chișinău: Transparency International Moldova.
Tymczuk, A. (2011) Social orphans and care at a distance: popular representations of childhood in Ukrainian transnational families, Global Studies of Childhood, 1(4): 377–87. doi: 10.2304/gsch.2011.1.4.377
Vanore, M., Mazzucato, V. and Siegel, M. (2015) ‘Left behind’ but not left alone: parental migration & the psychosocial health of children in Moldova, Social Science & Medicine (1982), 132: 252–60. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.08.040
World Bank (2024a) GDP per Capita (Current US$) – Moldova, Albania, Kosovo, Russian Federation, Belarus, Georgia, Romania, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Czechia, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?end=2022&locations=MD-AL-XK-RU-BY-GE-RO-UA-LV-LT-EE-MK-ME-SI-SK-CZ&start=2012.
World Bank (2024b) Personal Remittances, Received (% of GDP) – Moldova, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS?locations=MD&year_low_desc=false.
World Bank (2024c) Poverty Headcount Ratio at $2.15 a Day (2017 PPP) (% of Population) – Moldova, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY?locations=MD.
World Bank (2024d) Poverty Headcount Ratio at $6.85 a Day (2017 PPP) (% of population) – Moldova, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.UMIC?locations=MD.
