Dozens Of Thousands Of Orphans Due To COVID-19, Social Minister Risma Strives For Care Facilities

Tri Rismaharini/ANTARA

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Social Affairs noted that there were 11,045 children who became orphans, orphans, and orphans because their parents died due to COVID-19. This data is based on 20 July 2021.

Social Minister Tri Rismaharini said that his party is currently collecting data on children by name by address whose parents died when they tested positive for COVID-19.

From this data, the Ministry of Social Affairs seeks to facilitate children to receive care, such as reunification or returning children with their extended families, as well as facilitating alternative care such as foster parents or care in orphanages.

Risma gave an example of her reunification efforts. Some time ago, the Ministry of Social Affairs discovered that there was a child in East Kalimantan named Vino who was orphaned because his parents died of exposure to COVID-19. Currently, Vino is still 10 years old.

"Accompanied by the Social Work Service Unit (Sakti Peksos) and the Emergency Response Team of Balai Budi Luhur Banjarbaru and the local Social Service, Vino was successfully picked up by his grandfather who came from Sragen to be cared for by his extended family," said Risma in her statement, Friday, 6 August.

In addition, Risma admitted that she had also responded quickly to children whose parents died from COVID-19 in Kutai Kartanegara, Samarinda, Sukoharjo, Purwakarta, Bekasi, and Muna.

Other support provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs is helping large families of children to overcome difficulties in raising children.

In addition, therapy services through ATENSI in the form of physical, psychosocial and mental spiritual therapy are also provided to children to overcome feelings of sadness due to the loss of a parent due to COVID-19.

"In the future, we plan to carry out activities to handle the impact of COVID-19 on children who have lost their parents due to COVID-19. Of course, this activity will involve the cooperation of related institutions/agencies such as NGOs and the government sector who are responsible for handling this matter,” he said.