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Paper short abstract:

The presentation analyzes the relationship between migration and children's schooling, the problems and uncertainties of socialisation and integration in the case of Csángó families with children living abroad as well as the problems the children face in the cases of forced returning.

Paper long abstract:

The main site of the research was a village located in the eastern part of Romania inhabited by Moldavian Roman Catholics, the so-called Csángós. The Csángos are a community with a specific ethnicity, the most important element of which consists of local cultural specificities stemming from their belonging to the Roman Catholic religion. They distinguish themselves from the inhabitants of the neighbouring orthodox Romanian settlements in various aspects of life. In the same way, they distinguish themselves from the Hungarian ethnic group, while members of the older generation use an archaic Hungarian dialect in private life. A large number of people from the village, migrate for work, mainly to Western European countries. The presentation analyzes the relationship between migration and children's schooling, the problems and uncertainties of socialisation and integration in the case of Csángó families with children living abroad as well as the problems the children face in the cases of forced returning. In the analytical part, the concrete situations that emerged from the interviews will be presented, and the strategies that families have developed to promote the child's school and language socialisation in situations of migration insecurity. However, the analysis also shows situations where, due to some crisis (illness, unemployment etc.), these families with children have to move home and there is a drastic break in the children's lives. The analysis shows the problems that cultural and linguistic alienation creates for children's integration in school and in the community, and how parents try to respond to this.