International migrations and care provisions for elderly people left behind. The cases of the Republic of Moldova and Romania

Abstract

International migrations are posing numerous challenges to care systems in both sending and receiving countries. Based on a multi-method research conducted between 2011 and 2013, this article looks at how the care provisions for elderly people are rearranged in two Eastern European countries affected by the care drain phenomenon (the Republic of Moldova and Romania). The author charts and compares how transnational families, but also the other facets of the care diamond, such as the public sector, the market and the not-for-profit sector, provide care to elderly people left to cope at home alone because their close relatives have migrated. The main findings of the article are that transnational families are the principal welfare provider for elderly people left behind, while there is a serious delay in the adoption of specific policies for the elderly.

Le migrazioni internazionali stanno ponendo diverse sfide ai sistemi di cura dei paesi sia di origine sia di destinazione. L'articolo, basandosi su una ricerca multi-metodo condotta tra il 2011 e il 2013, illustra come si riorganizza la cura delle persone anziane in due paesi dell'Europa orientale interessati dal fenomeno del care drain (la Repubblica di Moldavia e la Romania). L'autrice descrive e compara come le famiglie transnazionali, ma anche gli altri attori del diamante della cura, quali il settore pubblico, il mercato e il settore non-profit, forniscono assistenza alle persone anziane rimaste sole nel paese di origine a cause dell'emigrazione dei loro parenti più stretti. In sintesi i principali risultati dell'articolo evidenziano che le famiglie transnazionali sono le principali fornitrici di welfare per le persone anziane rimaste nel paese di origine, mentre si registra un serio ritardo nell'adozione di politiche sociali specifiche a favore degli anziani.

Keywords:

• Republic of Moldova
• Romania
• migration
• care
• older people
• family relationships

Parole chiave:

• Repubblica di Moldavia
• Romania
• migrazione
• cura
• anziani
• relazioni familiari

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Francesca Alice Vianello holds a Ph.D. in Sociology. She is post-doc fellow at University of Padua (Italy). Her main areas of research and teaching are migration, gender and labour. Currently is carrying out a research project on the economic crisis impact on migrant people with a gender approach. She has recently concluded the research project ‘Everyday life strategies of migrant families across borders’, selected by the University of Padua as young scholar's project of excellence and innovation (2010). During 2013 she was visiting post-doc at the Department of Sociology II of Complutense University of Madrid, with the supervision of prof. Joaquin Arango. She cooperated with the National research project ‘Conditions for recognition. Gender, Migrations, Social Spaces’ (PRIN 2009) and with the Daphne European Commission Project ‘Speak Out! Empowering Migrant, Refugee and Ethnic Minority Women against Gender Violence in Europe’ both of them directed by Franca Bimbi. Her monograph is: Migrando sole. Legami transnazionali tra Ucraina e Italia [Migrating alone. Transnational ties between Ukraine and Italy] (Franco Angeli, 2009). Her recent scientific articles and chapters include: Moldovan, Romanian and Ukrainian transnational families seen through women's eyes (in Draga Alexandru, Nicolaescu, Smith eds., LIT-VERLAG, 2013); Ukrainian migrant women's social remittances: Contents and effects on families left behind (Migration Letters, 10.1 2013); A transnational double presence: Circular migrations between Ukraine and Italy (in Triandafyllidou ed., Oxford University Press 2013).

Notes

1. The data were collected within a broader research project entitled ‘Everyday life strategies of migrant families across borders’ funded by the University of Padua and by the CCIAA of Padua within the Selection for Young Scholars 2010 to award Senior Research Grants and to support innovative, excellent research put forward by young people not employed in the University of Padova.

2. The Strategy for National Development 2008–2011 (Law n. 295 of 21–12–2007) and the National Plan for the creation of an integrated system of social services (Governmental decree n. 1512 of 31–12–2008).

3. Based on law 17/2000, to be entitled to these services people must belong to one of the following categories: they are alone and have no relatives who can take care of them; they have no home and lack sufficient economic resources to ensure their sustenance; their personal income is not enough to cover their health care needs; they are not self-sufficient and need specialist care; they are unable to take care of their own needs because they are ill (Luca & Gîrleanu-Şoitu, 2012).