CHILD PROTECTION CHALLENGES DURING COVID-19, SOCIAL WORKERS PERSFECTIVE Rosmalinda (a*) Ningrum Natasya Sirait (a) Muldri Pudamo James Pasaribu (a)
(a) Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan-Indonesia, rosmalinda[at]usu.ac.id, rosmalindarohan[at]gmail.com
Abstract
The Indonesian Pediatric Society (Ikatan Dokter Anak Indonesia-IDAI) states on July 20, 2020, there were 2,712 children confirmed positive for Covid-19 and 51 children have died. There are 70% of children who died were in the age of less than 6 years. The Covid-19 pandemic becomes unpredictable in the Child Protection program. The child protection institutions both governments and NGOs have taken some actions to respond to pandemic Covid-19. This study applied empirical normative methods to answer research questions on the challenges encountered by child protection social workers during the Covid-19 pandemic? The results found that child protection social workers face several challenges, namely: (a) personal challenges in adapting the new normal, (b) Institution^s policies- and (c) the child and his/her family. The conclusions shown that there are three challenges existed in child protection during the Covid-19 pandemic in the perspective of social workers such as social workers internal issues, institutional policies and assistance groups which include children and families. This study recommends that the Indonesian government need to raise its awareness on the social workers^ issues when implementing child protection program on adapting to the new habits of Covid-19
