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Politics

Mama cleans in the West

May 15, 2013

More and more children in Romania are growing up without parents. They're cared for by other relatives, in homes or simply live on the street. Child welfare organization UNICEF estimates that some 350-thousand of these "orphans" have parents working in Western Europe.

https://p.dw.com/p/18YoL

Most of the parents work - legally or illegally - as nannies, cleaners or farm laborers. For years seasonal workers, in particular, have been traveling to Western European countries like Germany, Italy and Spain where cheap labor is in demand. Some don't ever return to their children in Romania.