Govt to stop helping poor children

Govt to stop helping poor children

JAKARTA: The government will soon stop supporting neglected
children -- including street children -- due to financial
constraints, a cabinet minister said Sunday.

The Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah said the
government would no longer finance thousands of half-way houses
for neglected children, whose number now reached 40.7 million due
to the prolonged economic crisis.

"The number of neglected children is just too high, and in
fact according to the United Nations, the figure stands at 80
million," Antara quoted Bachtiar as saying in Padang, West
Sumatra on Sunday.

He said the government had decided to stop receiving foreign
loans for the half-way houses because it did not want to burden
the country's future generations.

According to Chamsyah, each half-way house had been receiving
Rp 130 million per year.

He also revealed that most houses failed to carry out their
original missions.

"At least between 70 and 80 percent of the homes did not
succeed in their mission. That is why we decided to stop the
program," he said. -- Antara