Regina Motienė, Jurgita Daukšienė, Žaneta Šerkšnienė
Abstract
Background: The Increased Lithuanian emigration had a significantimpact on the demographic,economic and social processes.Families and children are largely influenced by the emigration factor.Seeking economic benefits, emigrants often ignore social effectsof emigration on their family.It is often the case that parents,whoare about to emigrate either singly or together, leave their childrenbehind for an indefinite time to relatives or even to stranger care.Aim: To determine the experience and psychological well-beeingof adolescens after parental emigration.Method: Quantitative study, anonymous questionnaire.Research results and conclusion: After parents‘ emigration,many children face learning problems, one-third of the childrenget lowergrades at school. The respondents of the study designatethat a quarter of the children begin playing truant. However, themost relevant problem is a change in child’s behavior and otherrelated issues. One-third of the respondents indicate that a childbecomes more reserved and a quarter of children have displayedsigns of aggression. Half of the respondents specified that usuallyfamily members help the guardians to deal with the arisingproblems when taking care of the left behind children and onlya quarter of guardians turn for help to the social pedagogue. Thefindings of the research demonstrate that from all the activities of asocial worker, educational activity is needed the most. Educationalactivity involves providing information on the institutions whichorganize social assistance for the families, who take up the childrenof the emigrants. A quarter of keepers would prefer socialworker’s representation inhelpingto protecta child‘sinterests invariousinstitutions and more tha none-third would favor preventionactivities which would help to assess child‘s problems and find asolution to fix them. It was also revealed that from a social worker’sactivities to families, fostering children of the emigrated parents,of less importance is asocial worker‘s organizational performancethrough training guardiansand more than one-third of families,caring forchildrenwhose parents have emigrated, do not wish asocial worker to mediate in helping to determine a child‘s needfor psychological consultation.
Keyword(s): adolescens, parental emigration, social worker
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2014.114
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