I suspect it was also about having a few mouths to feed by sending them to wealthier families, but I see the point.
In Germany there's a system where young offenders can go to Romania for half a year and live on a farm. They get support from a social worker/occupational therapist but the point is they are away from their usual crowd and any dealers they may know, and because of the language barrier they're also stuck. As my colleague who worked on the programme said to a new arrival:
"Basically, to the north is Dracula, south is the bears, east is the wolves, and to the west is me."