Fair care mobility and migration in Europe

Since the fall of Communism, a new form of care for older people has established itself in Western Europe: Typically, women from Eastern Europe work as so-called ‘live-ins’ in private households of western countries and get a salary on the basis of the wage differential through which they become a valuable support to their family at home.

Thanks to different wage levels, people in need of care in Western Europe can afford to employ private help, hiring someone to take care of them and prevent them from entering a nursing home. In many cases Western European families expect care services round the clock. In fact, a single person is not capable to meet such demands. The trend towards privatisation of the responsibility of care and support encourages these private arrangements and eases the burden of both the public authorities and also the insurance companies.

However, this transnational way of life has different disadvantages for the migrant care workers: They mostly work informally, are often placed by dubious agencies in the east and west, or are – despite legal employment – threatened with exploitation and isolation within the private household, which is very difficult to control from the outside.

We – Caritas organisations – have been very involved in the protection of those affected and the development of care quality and support for many years. As part of the European Caritas network, we maintain partnerships between the east and west for the preparation and employment of care migrants in the private household. We are guided by a vision of equality and justice with reference to the need for care and support of older people in Eastern as well as Western Europe. We develop collaborations for the same, which support development, create more balance and improve the appreciation for care work. At the so-called East-West Workshop 2015, we renewed an exchange of our experiences in Bratislava and established the basis for the following guiding principles.