Parents neglect retarded children

BOGOR: About 85 percents of the 75 retarded people who live in the government's social institutions here have never been visited by their parents during their five-year stay in the institution.

Yayat Setianingrat, head of the administration at the Bina Grahita social institution for the disabled in Ciungwanara of the Cibinong district in Bogor regency, said most of the retarded people in the institution were between 20 and 25 years of age.

They stayed for free at the institution for five years, during which they learned elementary-level education and vocational skills like embroidery, sewing and handicraft making.

Most parents who never visited their children were poor people, who likely could not afford the visit, he said.

The parents are from Jakarta, West Java, Banten and Lampung.

The government allocates Rp 5,000 in meal allowance per day for each of the children. The money is taxed 10 percent, according to Yayat.

Yayat complained about the lack of funds to run the institution, saying that there was no money to buy new mattress to replace the old ones which were damaged by the patients urinating in bed. --JP