A steady economic growth over the last two decades in Cambodia and the ASEAN region has contributed to an increase in internal and international migration in search of better employment and livelihood opportunities.

Globally, labor migration of parents has resulted in a growing number of children and adolescents being left behind in the areas from where migrants depart. In many countries a single parent or grandparents often act as children’s primary caregivers when parents migrate, while residential care has been found to an emergent caregiving arrangement for left-behind children in Cambodia.