Support for single mothers urged

JAKARTA (JP): Institutions which provide support to single mothers and advocate public recognition of their status are needed, a women's rights activist said.

Moral support of a single mother is not enough, Ita F. Nadia of the Kalayanamitra organization said yesterday.

Recognition of single mothers would imply necessary legal changes, such as the right of a single mother to have her name mentioned on the birth certificate of the child, she said.

"Children born out of wedlock face difficulties when they enter school," she said. "Such a child also faces the stigma of being anak haram (illegitimate)."

Ita was responding to the actions of orphanages which provide temporary shelter to single pregnant women. However the management of an orphanage said earlier that their services for single mothers-to-be face criticism.

"We are told that youngsters will think it is okay to have premarital sex because they can leave their babies here," said Trusti Mulyono, chairwoman of the Sayap Ibu Foundation.

This is the main constraint to making the services public, she said.

Ita stressed that more institutions providing support to single mothers are needed, "but they must be open about it", she said.

Besides moral support, education about women's rights in relation to their reproductive functions and their right to litigation would also have to be part of such institutions, she said. Providing sex education to youngsters is also needed.

The Sayap Ibu Foundation is an orphanage which takes in neglected infants from the city's Social Agency or hospitals. It also provides temporary shelter to infants of poor parents. Occasionally it takes in women who intend to adopt out their unborn babies, either out of shame or for economic reasons.

Among the women are students and maids who fell pregnant after having sex with their boyfriends, or employees who had sex with their employers.

"We tell them we agree to find a home for their babies, but ask that they stay here to breast-feed the babies for a month," Trusti said.

"In the meantime we give them moral support and convince them that many other women have raised children without fathers," she said.

Often the women and their families change their minds about adoption.

An advisor and founder of Sayap Ibu, noted social worker Johana S. Nasution, said this result is "in line with the foundation's policy" that children are adopted out only when it is impossible for them to live with their parents. (anr)