Child Neglect Protection: Policies and Strategies

Indonesia is a country with a high number of neglected children. One of the causes of neglect of children in Indonesia is divorce which often motivated by low status of economic, educational and awareness of parents. The aftermath of divorce is often impact on children’s situation. In some cases, the consequences of divorce may lead to children neglect which force children to be displaced and some of them ended up living on the streets. There are also possibilities which might turn the children to be perpetrators or victims of crime on the streets. The method used is a normative juridical method and analyzed using qualitative methods. Currently, the government has established a set of rules to prevent child neglect through Indonesia’s Constitution 1945, Law Number 23 of 2004 concerning the Elimination of Domestic Violence and Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection. The law categorizes child neglect as abandoning households that are prohibited and subject to sanctions for perpetrators. Nonetheless, in reality the act of neglecting households is clearly prohibited as if ignored by the government. The applicable system of fines and prisons is no longer effective, so government should consider other possible strategic policies.