BKKBN Maluku Partners with Fire Service for 'Surrogate Father' Programme

The Representative Office of the Ministry of Population and Family Development (Kemendukbangga)/BKKBN in Maluku Province has partnered with the Ambon City Fire and Rescue Service (Damkar) to run the ‘Surrogate Father, Great Children’ programme. Head of the BKKBN Maluku Representative Office, Dr. Edi Setiawan, stated in Ambon on Monday that the programme is part of the implementation of the Indonesian Exemplary Father Movement (GATI), which aims to strengthen the role of a father figure in supporting children’s growth and development. ‘This programme is to provide accompaniment to children who do not have a father or whose father cannot be present during the school report card distribution,’ he said. The Surrogate Father, Great Children programme, he added, was born from the belief that every child deserves attention, support, and guidance. When a father cannot be present, the environment around the child must step in to provide support. He explained that the inaugural implementation of the programme involved several personnel from the Ambon City Fire and Rescue Service accompanying students during report card collection. According to Edi, the presence of a father figure plays an important role in emotional development, building self-confidence, and motivating children to achieve. However, many children grow up without a father’s guidance for various reasons, ranging from work demands to parental loss. Therefore, he said, BKKBN Maluku took the initiative to build cross-sector collaboration with the Ambon City Government through the Fire and Rescue Service and the Ambon City Population Control and Family Planning Office (DPPKB). The collaboration emerged following a meeting between BKKBN Maluku, the Ambon City Fire and Rescue Service, and the Ambon City DPPKB to find tangible forms of support for children needing accompaniment during important moments in the educational environment. ‘We hope this movement can inspire other agencies, communities, and elements of society to provide support for children in need,’ he said. Meanwhile, Head of the Ambon City Fire and Rescue Service, Edo Hehamahua, said his party welcomed the involvement of fire service personnel in the programme as a form of concern for children’s growth and development. ‘Today we are present as a form of support for the Surrogate Father, Great Children Programme. We become surrogate fathers for children who do not have a father or whose father works out of town and cannot collect their report cards,’ he said. He expressed hope that this presence could encourage children to achieve a better future. He noted that fire service personnel, who are usually synonymous with rescue and firefighting duties, are now taking on a social role by providing emotional support and motivation to students. It is hoped the programme can be further developed and involve more parties in creating a child-friendly environment, so that every child receives equal support and opportunity to grow into a superior generation in the future.