Neglecting child poverty will be costly for all

Erita Narhetali, Director, Institute for Marginalized Children Studies, Jakarta

Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah has admitted that the problem of street children has been poorly addressed. All of the concerned departments run their own programs separately, so the overall problem remains unsolved, according to the minister.

On top of the problem of a lack of coordination and of a comprehensive solution, the minister also revealed that a program of "shelters", or halfway houses (rumah singgah), had proven to be ineffective despite being funded by loans.

Thus the government decided to stop funding the program this year, and a new approach will be developed to assist street children by helping their families. Research has showed that 90 percent of street children in shelters still have a family, but economic need drives them to the streets. It is this economic need of the family that will be addressed.

However, at least two things must first be clarified.

First, the problem of street children is not only about economics. It also involves psychology, law and politics. Instead of only providing them food, health services and education, children need to be treated as human beings, with love and care as well as protection. Many children in this country are victims of violence, negligence, exploitation, mistreatment and discrimination, along with a severe lack of basic need fulfillment.

Second, street children are not the only children who are suffering. According to Seto Mulyadi, the chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection, the country must deal with the problems of child labor, child trafficking, child prostitution, street children, children in conflict areas and undernourished children.

This reality implies the urge to have child problems tackled comprehensively, not partially. We must go beyond partial policies such as the cheap education for poor children run by the Ministry of National Education, the shelters for street children run by the social ministry, and arresting street children and charging them with disturbing public order, which is overseen by local governments. This is because the children learn how to cope and even benefit from such circumstances.

They move around from shelter to shelter looking for one that provides more food, clothes, toys and pleasure. They eventually master ways to escape from rehabilitation houses, and drop out of school to earn money from the streets again. Thus our policies appear like a blind man trying to shoot flying birds.

Now all we need is to ensure that the right policies are in place, tackling not just the symptoms of child problems but also

the root causes.

Mostly, root causes can be traced to poverty and deprivation. Thus, combating poverty will be more effective when it is done in combination with the fight for child rights protection. This demand is even greater since we ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990.

Child's rights are useful for implementing a comprehensive policy based on the principal of the "best interest of the child".

Analyzing poverty based on children's interests is also crucial because the seeds of poverty and lack of opportunity are sown in childhood. Children of poor families tend to have a lower birth weight, higher infant mortality and poorer health. Then they are less likely to stay in school and acquire fewer skills. In adulthood they will have more disadvantages, such as earning less money and dying younger.

These considerations must be taken into account as the government pledges to eradicate the problem of street children using a "family approach". As the number of people who experience poverty has increased, the number of children who live in poverty has risen sharply as well.

Turning child-based problems into a family poverty problem would be detrimental to the children, and it also would be ineffective unless we can assure children's rights.

It is indeed a cliche that we still have no integrated policy, nor the political will, to overcome both child poverty and the abuse of child rights. Child issues are often discounted for more politically valuable issues. Financial difficulties also have been blamed as a big obstacle from time to time.

In fact, tackling child poverty is not just improving individual lives, it is also an economic necessity. Everyone pays for poverty and everyone benefits when communities have more jobs, better health, less crime and higher expectations for their children.

In Indonesia, the problem is a lack of organizing resources, rather than a lack of resources. A large number of funding bodies, donors and NGOs, both domestic and international, have implemented significant budgets and programs concerning child issues since the last decade.

Unhappily, most of the programs were not designed to be sustainable. And as long as we treat child poverty only in terms of charity, or with short-term programs, we will continue to fail.

Tackling child poverty is obviously a long-term commitment supported by professionals, with no place for being half-hearted. Our Constitution confirms that this country is responsible for taking care of neglected children. So the government should grab the initiative and organize this movement seriously.

Start by making child poverty a national issue. Financial problems? Besides overseas funding, we have huge opportunities in empowering local communities to manage fund-raising. Many people are interested in being donors, but we can hardly find the right access, well-organized fund management or a trustworthy institution.

Ineffective shelters? Set up a national standard requirement and regulations for maintaining shelters, so people can be assured that children's needs are fulfilled adequately in the concerned shelters, with no mistreatment or exploitation. We can learn from other countries about how best to run such shelters.

Other difficulties could be reduced by networking with other ministries, NGOs or academics. There is so much more left to do. We should not let the facts of street children, child labor, child trafficking, child prostitution and other child rights violations remain mere statistics. Not any more.