Yanis: Street kids emerging problem

By JUNIOR UKAHA
THE Child Welfare Office (CWO) under the Department of Community Development says the issue of street kids is indeed an emerging problem but it is underfunded to deal with it adequately.
Director Simon Yanis, responding to comments by an academic about street kids posing a threat to the national security of PNG, said money was the main issue to finding a solution. 
Associate Prof Garry Sali, of the department of communication for development studies at the PNG University of Technology, said the children were emerging with no cultural connections and “will become adults in our society doing unproductive and illegal things such as strikes, civil unrest and petty crimes”.
Yanis said: “We receive no funding from the government but as social workers we just do our jobs as an obligation to the community.”
He said the CWO had a children’s programme but they were done in partnership with other non-governmental organisations and international humanitarian partners due to funding constraints.
“For instance, we have the vulnerable street children programme with Unicef,” he said.
The programme aims to identify vulnerable children and assist them.
Yanis, who took office last July, said although there were programmes in place, the current infighting for the top post in the department had affected the morale of staff and their commitment towards work.
He said there were statistics available on the number of street kids throughout PNG but he had yet to get updated figures.
Yanis agreed with Sali, saying street kids could be a threat if their needs were not adequately catered for by the government, their parents, relatives and the community.
“Most of these kids are third and fourth generation city dwellers and come from different provinces,” he said.
“Their parents are poor or unemployed and the children are running wild with no parental care and guidance.”
These children were everybody’s issue as they were Papua New Guineans and one day would become adults, Yanis said.
“Whether they live in Touaguba Hill or in a settlement, they all have the same rights,” he said.
Yanis said that right to protection and care was stipulated under the Lukautim Pikinini Act.
He said although urbanisation was here and people were fending for themselves and their families, these children should be helped often.
Yanis commended the government for its free education policy, saying it was a good initiative to keep children off the streets and a path to a decent future.