Response of 14 Street Children in Banjarnegara, Ministry of Social Affairs Gives Residential Based ATENSI Program

BATURRADEN (25 May 2021) - The unpredictable harshness of life on the streets opens opportunities for street children to drugs abuse. Related to this, the Ministry of Social Affairs through the "Satria" Baturraden Center in collaboration with the Social Service for Women Empowerment and Child Protection (Dinsos PPPA) Banjarnegara Regency responded to cases of street children in the Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java.

There are 14 street children, nine boys and five girls with ages ranging from 12 to 22 years. Eight of them came from Banjarnegara Regency, one person from Purbalingga Regency, four people from Cilacap Regency, and one person from Banyumas Regency.

The street children will be provided with residential-based ATENSI program services at "Satria" Baturraden Center.

As an initial process, the 14 street children underwent a screening process involving social workers, addiction counselors, nurses, and psychologists. One of the objectives is to determine the type and level of drug use so that it becomes the basis for the preparation of an intervention plan.

Head of Social Welfare PPPA Banjarnegara Regency, Aziz Achmad said that synergy between institutions is needed to provide optimal services for the People Needing Social Welfare Services (PPKS).

"We are ready to collaborate and will participate in the program, both in terms of completeness of data and handling and can be legalized through a cooperation agreement. In addition, there is a need for knowledge sharing for handling street children and punk children so that we can make adjustments," said Aziz.

The Head of the "Satria" Baturraden Center, Hendra Permana, also expressed his gratitude for the cooperation that has been established.

"We agree. Our hope from this collaboration does not stop here, there are many social problems that must be handled quickly and require synergy between the Ministry of Social Affairs and local governments," said Hendra.

Hendra also explained that "Satria" Baturraden Center was ready to do multi-service. Apart from Drug Abuse Victims, various other social problems can be responded to and handled by the Center.