Many children's problems remain unresolved
Many children's problems remain unresolved
This special page is in observance of National Children's Day,
which is commemorated on July 23 each year. This page looks at
only a small number of the problems facing the country's
children.
Erita Narhetali, Contributor, Jakarta
Every child in this world has the right to grow up in a family
environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and
understanding. But in Indonesia, many children still live in
misery.
The incidence of street children, child labor, child
trafficking and child prostitution continues to increase, while
child malnutrition often goes unnoticed.
Issues related to children's rights in Indonesia have received
a great deal of attention from people either at home or overseas,
following the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) and the enactment of the law on child protection (No.
23/2002).
Unfortunately, despite the ratification of the CRC and the
issuance of the law, most children's problems in the country
remain unresolved. Most of the government's programs are still
focused on how to design effective regulations.
As a result, the government is paying little attention to
coping with the core problem, such as the lack of a workable
program that could help prepare children to enter the workforce.
Let's look at the handling of street children as an example.
Housing them in a temporary shelter or in foster care is one of
the strategies adopted by the government or non-governmental
organizations to deal with street children and neglected
children.
However, this approach often fails to work as expected. Most
of the children look at foster care just like a "hotel" -- a
place to be visited when there is a need. They go to foster care
only to benefit from the facilities it provides such as food and
other basic needs.
Ideally, such temporary shelters should not only provide basic
needs but also full-time social workers who function not just as
counselors but also as substitute parents.
Unfortunately, most child foster cares in Indonesia are built
based on charity programs, while the social worker is perceived
only as part-time or voluntarily jobs.
Professionalism in handling foster care has become a
prerequisite. The psychological condition of most street children
is nearly impossible to be dealt with simply through charity
programs.
The city violence that has become part of their lives has
taught them a lot about how to survive. However, this situation
affects their personalities. It is, therefore, not easy for them
to return to the norms of family life.
With the lack of thoughtful programs and professional social
workers, the existence of foster care or shelters does nothing
for the children's future. The children just tend to stay longer
to benefit from the free meals and other basic needs they
receive.
In many shelters or foster care arrangements in most Asian
countries including Indonesia, street children have been given
basic skills in addition to catering for their basic needs, but
most of their programs still fail to answer the fundamental
question: "What will the children do after they complete the
program?"
Mongolia and Uzbekistan may be viewed as good examples in this
instance. In these two countries, the programs relating to street
children not only include development of the children but also
improving the quality of the people involved.
Social workers in these two countries, for example, do not
only have sufficient knowledge to do their jobs but also earn a
good salary.
I think the Indonesian government should learn from the two
countries if it really wants to solve the problem.
Another issue that deserves attention is the violation of
children's rights resulting from evictions.
A wave of evictions in Jakarta recently affected no less than
2,000 children. The impact on the children was great, not only
financially but also mentally.
A group of students from the School of Psychology at the
University of Indonesia, who opened a "Sekolah Perahu" (boat
school) for evicted children in Kali Adem, North Jakarta, found
most of the children who witnessed the destruction of their
houses and neighborhoods were suffering from "forklift trauma".
Psychological trauma, especially when it takes place during
childhood, should not be neglected. The misery and anger
resulting from such violence will remain intact in the children's
minds for the rest of their lives. In many cases, such
experiences will have serious implications on their future mental
health.
Can you imagine what will happen to our future generations if
more and more children are suffering from psychological
disorders.
There are at least three things that can be done to help
resolve children's problems.
First, it is time for the government to introduce an
integrated program to cope with the growing number of children's
problems, either due to direct causes, which generally result
from the ineffectiveness of the government's policy such as armed
conflict and city violence, or due to indirect causes such as
poverty, domestic violence, drug abuse or natural disaster.
Logically, preventing violations of children's rights from
direct causes would be more feasible if the government had a
strong commitment to law enforcement.
The current national policy has proved to be ineffective. The
solving of children's problems is often regarded only as charity
and merely a social issue.
Second, the government needs to cooperate more closely with
related educational institutions, such as through the
establishment of community-based programs. Such cooperation is
important, not only in formulating more workable programs but
also in improving the professionalism of the social workers.
At present, social workers mostly work as volunteers, and
receive no salary. Under these conditions, it is understandable
if street children programs do not run as we would normally
expect.
Last, but not least, law enforcement is vital to ensure that
all of these programs are properly implemented.
The writer is head of research and development at the Institute
for People's Study and Advocacy, Jakarta.