Economic hardship forces poor to give up children

Faisal, 13, has no idea why his parents dropped him off at a crowded orphanage in Jakarta six years ago and never returned. "I think they couldn't afford my school," he said, struggling to remember their faces.

Nearly a decade after Indonesia was ravaged by the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, more and more children are facing a similar fate, in many cases because of economic hardship. The Ministry of Social Affairs is planning to develop a family support model that will provide assistance directly to the families.

Makmur Sunusi, director-general of the Ministery of Social Affairs, told IRIN: "The state is responsible for empowering families. Children's homes should be a last resort."

Only 6 percent of about 500,000 children in Indonesia's orphanages are actually orphans. But about 0.6 percent of the country's 85 million children end up in institutions, one of the highest rates in the world, according to Save the Children in Indonesia.

The number of childcare centres is estimated to have jumped nearly five-fold over the past decade to more than 8,000, according to the NGO.

Florence Martin, a researcher for Save the Children, said this was an "alarming" trend, which is being underlined by rapidly rising fuel and food prices. Some parents are no longer able to pay for schooling and food, so rather than depriving their children of education they turn to the orphanages.

"We can't really blame them. Life is very hard for poor Indonesians. They want the best for their children and think they provide that by putting them in an institution," she said.

We can't really blame them. Life is very hard for poor Indonesians. They want the best for their children and think they provide that by putting them in an institution.

In the first research of its kind, Martin led a team that visited 37 childcare institutions in six out of 33 provinces across the island nation. The Ministry of Social Affairs and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) co-sponsored the project. 

Shortages of funding and qualified staff were found to be widespread and little if any attention was paid to children's emotional, developmental or psycho-social needs.

"The picture provided by the great majority of childcare institutions surveyed is that of children caring for themselves, while adults primarily cared for the institution," the researchers concluded.

Food inflation

Although the Indonesian economy is growing at about 6 percent a year, that is not enough to create jobs for tens of millions of unemployed. About 100 million people live on less then a dollar a day.

As Indonesia experiences a boom in sales of natural resources and precious metals, many of the underprivileged say their lives have only become more difficult in recent years because of higher prices.

In the first half of 2008, the cost of staple soy-based products such as tofu and tempe, a source of vital protein, rose by about 50 percent due to soaring commodity prices on the international markets. Last month, the government decided to hike fuel prices by about 30 percent in response to the soaring oil price.

Aid agencies say the tougher economic situation has already driven more parents to financial desperation.

"We already have a waiting list for 10 children," said Anna Ngantung, head of the Parapattan orphanage in the capital. Increases have also been reported at other childcare centres in Indonesia.

For children who cannot find a home at an institution, Islamic boarding school is a popular alternative in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Millions of children end up at roughly 14,000 so-called pesantren, where there is even less supervision, said Martin.

Rina, 16, lives at the Parapattan orphanage in the capital with her younger brother and sister. They were brought here four years ago when their mother died. Even though their father earns too little to provide for them, she still considers herself lucky because she is getting an education. "The financial situation at home is so bad, I couldn't have gone to school if I still lived there," she said.

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