Children's Behavior Changes After Parents Abandoned Due To COVID: Often Stuck, Biting Nails And Sleeping Too Much

Illustration (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Advocacy Coordinator and Child Protection Specialist SOS Children's Villages Indonesia, Tri Dewi Saraswati, said that many children who lost their parents during COVID-19 experienced behavioral changes.

"Children are often dumbfounded, their eyes are blank, there are children who go out every day, say goodbye to fishing and only come home in the evening," said Dewi Saraswati in a webinar entitled 'United and Moving #Together For Children Who Lost Parents Due to COVID-19' which was followed in Jakarta , Between, Thursday, September 30.

Not only that, he continued, other changes in attitude, including children often biting their nails and looking down. There are also those who do not leave the house. "Some often sleep. They sleep too much," he said.

His party also found that there was a child who when he saw a woman whose face resembled his mother, the child immediately hugged the woman tightly.

A number of behavioral changes are known from research conducted by SOS Children's Villages Indonesia in Semarang City, Central Java and DI Yogyakarta.

In his research, his party did not find any violence experienced by these children. In addition, there is no difference in the pattern of parenting between caregivers and orphans.

These children, he said, are vulnerable to violence if they do not receive psychosocial assistance.

"We see that it is quite risky for children who cannot receive psychosocial assistance. When they have unexpected behavior and caregivers are not mentally and economically ready, this is very risky for children and can experience physical and emotional violence," he said.