Two out of five (39%) of Romanian parents who work abroad will not return home for the holidays, demonstrates a study carried out by Save the Children Romania. In exchange, 46% of parents will spend Christmas in the country with their children.
Currently 73,868 children who have one or both parents working abroad are registered in the records of public social assistance services. 21,276 have both parents abroad or come from families where the sole supporting parent is abroad.
The absence of parents or a legal representative can limit children’s access to health, educational and social benefits.
An information campaign regarding the legislative changes adopted in 2022 was launched last week with the aim of facilitating the procedure of temporary delegation of parental authority. Save the Children Romania runs the campaign in partnership with the Ministry of the Family and the National Authority for Child Protection.
Gabriela Alexandrescu, Executive President of Save the Children Romania, explained: „Already a chronic phenomenon in Romania, children whose parents work in other countries find themselves in a vulnerable situation, when both parents are away, without having been delegated parental authority. Thus, in addition to the trauma caused by the parent’s absence, these children face borderline situations, which may jeopardize their access to education and social services.”
According to one of the legislative changes, parents already working abroad can temporarily delegate parental authority. Also, parents will be able to delegate legal representatives from among people they are not related to.
