Yogyakarta City Government Identifies Reliable Daycares to House Children Victims of Abuse

Yogyakarta (ANTARA) - The Yogyakarta City Government will soon conduct an identification of trustworthy and reliable daycares or child care centres to accommodate children who were victims of violence and neglect at Daycare Little Aresha in Sorosutan Ward, Umbulharjo. “So, starting from tomorrow morning on Monday (27/4), where the children will be placed is something I consider urgent and an emergency,” said Yogyakarta Mayor Hasto Wardoyo after an audience with the victims’ parents in Yogyakarta on Sunday afternoon. Moreover, he said, the parents who entrusted their children to that daycare are generally working and do not have much time with their children during working hours. In response to this situation, he said, the local government must step in. “The government must be present, and we will immediately identify other daycares that are trustworthy, safe, healthy, and the Head of the Education Office along with other office heads and the KPAI (Indonesian Child Protection Commission) will immediately identify them,” he said. Thus, he said, it will be known which child care centres can ultimately accommodate the children who have stopped or ceased entrusting their children to the daycare that was subsequently raided by the police. “We consider this an emergency step that must be carried out immediately, so they can entrust their children there,” he said. “Today, data on all daycares in Yogyakarta City has been entered, then we will check them one by one. Tomorrow (27/4) morning we will check them one by one, so that within a short time, at most two days, we will already know the status of all daycares in Yogyakarta,” he said. According to him, this is important to anticipate unwanted things for the parents, including the regional government in providing safe, healthy child care places that support better child growth and development. He said the parents also want the violence case that befell their children while being cared for at that daycare to be truly handled and to receive the fairest justice. “Of course, we will also accompany them. For that, we together with KPAI are forming a team, and there is also a legal consultant who will collect and record all reports submitted by the parents, as input for the subsequent legal processes,” he said.