Living without them- Children left behind labour migrants
In Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, between 500 000 and a million children are without at least one parent according to the PACE report “Impact of labour migration on left-behind children, 2020”: “Leaving millions of children without parental care is a mass violation of human rights, and an unnecessary threat to the stability and prosperity of our countries. Targeted ad hoc measures are not enough to improve the situation. To maximise the benefits of labour migration, while eliminating its harmful consequences on children left behind, all countries need to acknowledge the scale of this phenomenon and the long-term damage it creates, and to put into place comprehensive approaches to labour migration, which are child-centred, human-rights based, gender-sensitive and socially and economically sustainable.”
Take a look at the photo essay below by Lina Krivoshieva within the ROMACT Programme and learn more about the real-life impact of this phenomenon on Roma communities.
Made in the frame of the public discussion “Children left behind: between labour migration, institutional standards and extended family” organized by ROMACT in partnership with the Ombudsman of Bulgaria Diana Kovacheva.
Christian lives without his parents in the little village of Dobrolevo, Bulgaria. He is a quiet and well-mannered child, but he says he feels lonely because there aren’t many exciting things happening around. 
Christian has a little brother named Bobby. They both go to school regularly and stay extra hours to do their homework there. 
The two brothers live with their grandmother while their parents are in the Netherlands. She is young enough to handle taking care of the kids, but she faces difficulties when helping her 8-year-old grandson with his homework. 
Their house is located quite far from the center of the village. This is the entrance door to their home. 
Sebastian Sergeev lives with his grandparents in Dobrolevo village. 
Fortunately, his grandmother is still young enough to take care of hilm. 
She believes that the absence of his parents plays a role in how spoiled he is. 
Svetomir lives with his grandparents as well. Here he plays the playstation, it’s a gift from his dad. “He got me some cool games too. It’s kind of boring living without him, though.” 
Vasko is Svetomir’s grandfather who takes care of him. “There is no work here, I understand why he is working abroad”. 
This young girl lives with her 2 sisters and her 65-year-old grandmother. She and her youngest sister feel heartbroken when it’s time for her parents to leave. She really wants to go live in the Netherlands. 
The oldest sister of the 3 is used to living without her parents. She helps her grandmother take care of her sisters. Her parents come home once a year during the Christmas holidays. 
Emilian and his grandparents live in Rogozen. 
His grandmother Rozeta says that It’s very difficult to manage as the money isn’t enough for all their needs. 
Since the parents split up, the grandparents can’t get any extra support and their life is quite difficult. 
The father helps as much as he can with shoes, food and some clothes but it's far from enough 
The oldest daughters say they don’t want to become like their mother. 
But the family has concerns that there are already some boys interested in the girls. They are 14 and 15 years old. 
Shefket lives with his grandmother too 
They get along very well but he still miss his parents 
Today is special because his parents are back from England, Shefket is happy but they will leave again soon 
Ivka has just gotten back, but she is planning to leave again, because she has a better chance to help her children by working abroad. She works very hard when she is abroad, but she says the pay is rewarding.