The left-behind children in Venezuela are often depressed and hostile, says Irma Pena, a psychologist who sees dozens of children whose parents have moved to other countries.
Venezuela's economic meltdown "has triggered an astounding exodus – 3 million refugees and migrants as of November, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They are fleeing the poverty, hunger and lack of access to proper medical care that has become a hallmark of daily life. And many of them have left children behind", says an NPR article.
"It occurs especially in poor Venezuelan families that don't have the economic conditions to migrate as a whole," says Fernando Pereira, founder of Community Learning Centers (Cecodap in Spanish), a nongovernmental agency that promotes children's rights in Venezuela.
After surveying 1,000 homes with the assistance of private pollster Datanálisis, Cecodap concluded that at least 600,000 children and teenagers have seen one or both parents move to other countries for economic betterment. The children are typically cared for by grandparents, close relatives, friends and neighbors.
This phenomenon is not exclusive to Venezuela. Verena Knaus, senior policy adviser on migration at UNICEF, lists many examples around the globe, like the estimated 9 million children "left behind" in the Philippines with one or both parents working abroad.
Read the full article here
Source; NPR News.