Migration presents both opportunities and challenges for societies, communities and individuals. Migration alters the structure of families. While it is true that economic factors are major drivers, migration involves highly diverse groups of people, including girls, boys, women, men, and better-off as well as poorer people. Experience has shown that children are affected by migration in different ways: children are left behind by migrant parents; they are brought along with their migrating parents; and they migrate alone, independently of parents and adult guardians. Other children do not move, but are nevertheless affected because they live in communities that send or receive large numbers of migrants. Some children are return migrants or have been repatriated. Children left behind may benefit from having migrant parents. Innocent Social Monitor 2004 reported that remittances sent home by parents can increase consumption, finance schooling, buy health care and fund better housing. Whether children benefit depends on their access to those extra resources, which may depend …show more content…
These children, sometimes referred to as 'unaccompanied minors ', may actively seek migration opportunities as a result of many factors. Yet many migrant children are not recognized as migrants because they are identified using other terms, such as domestic workers, street children or foster children. Many of these children send remittances to their families, combine work with schooling or training and manage to save, although there is little information to facilitate comparison of the benefits against the many costs and risks migrant children face. Independent migrant children are significantly affected by the absence of protection and support from their families, and by the challenges of their new situations after