Parliament decides Romanian parents must notify authorities before leaving for work abroad

Romanian parents planning to work abroad will have to notify the authorities and let them know who will care for their children while they are away, according to legislation recently approved by the Parliament. Designed to protect the children, the measure follows many cases of children left alone at home, while parents were working abroad. Several other projects have also been started which aim to reduce the number of children who lose contact with their parents while they work abroad. A pilot program signed by the Labor Ministry and the Association of Romanian Women in Italy, together with the Milan city hall, allows children in the counties of Dolj, Gorj, Neamţ, Satu Mare and Suceava to stay in touch with their parents who work in Italy via Internet and Skype at their local libraries. The aim of the project is to reduce the number of suicides among Romanian children who stay in the country while parents work abroad. Italians call these children "orfani bianchi". Over a million Romanians work in Italy and some 130,000 Romanian women in the North of Italy alone left their children at home in the care of relatives. According to the new piece of legislation, parents who will go abroad for work will have to notify local authorities 40 days before leaving. The initiative for this piece of legislation followed local media reports on the high rate of suicide intention and depression among Romanian children whose parents work abroad. TV channel PROTV initiated a campaign, highlighting that over 200,000 Romanian children have at least one parent working abroad. The TV channel won the Emmy Awards for News for their series of features called "Any idea what your children are doing right now?" editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)