City to open new children's shelter

JAKARTA: A new city-run shelter for street children in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, will be officially opened next January. The shelter will be able to accommodate around 500 street children.

Jakarta Spiritual Development and Social Affairs Agency director Syariffudin Machbud said recently that the administration would also provide education for the children.

Currently, there are two institutions caring for orphaned or neglected children in Plumpang, North Jakarta, and in Tebet, South Jakarta. There is also an institution for teenage drug addicts in Serpong, Tangerang. The three institutions currently house 345 young people.

Syariffudin said that the three shelters would still not be able to accommodate all the street children in Jakarta, who numbered up to 10,000 in 2002.

He also said that the administration had allocated up to Rp 700 million (US$82,353) a year from the city budget to cover operational costs, school fees, food, healthcare and a daily allowance of between Rp 2,000 and Rp 4,000 per child. -- JP