The Perception of Child Sexual Abuse Parents about Child Protection

Workers Services in Medan City, Sumatera Utara

Mia Aulina Lubis and Malida Putri

Program Study of Social Welfare, Faculty Social and Political Science, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keyword: Child Protection Services.

Abstract: This research has conducted an overview of the condition of child social services for sexual abuse victims

through the perception of parent’s victims. This research used a qualitative grounded theory approach with

in-depth qualitative interviews on understanding the perspective of parents about child protection worker’s

services as a response to child sexual abuse cases that happened with their children. This research conducted

face-to-face interviews of 4 parents who had received child protection services from child protection workers

that called as Satuan Bakti Pekerjaan Sosial Perlindungan Anak (Sakti Peksos PA) in Medan, Sumatera Utara

Province, Indonesia. The results of this study describe the child protection workers services seen through the

conditions of the implementation of the stages of assistance provided. The study concludes that parents feel

that the services provided by child social workers are very helpful for their problems, although some services

are deemed necessary to be maximized, especially rehabilitation services. Besides, several phases of assisting

are difficult to implement given the need to quickly resolve cases. The conclusion from this study needs to be

improved services and more support in the service of children victims of sexual violence.

1 INTRODUCTION

Child sexual abuse is a never-ending phenomenon in

Indonesia. Every year, we still found a lot of child

sexual abuse cases that reportedly happened in

Indonesia. The number of child sexual abuse victim

in Indonesia are also formidable. Child abuse survey

conducted by Indonesian Social Ministry in 2013

indicated that each day 1 from 12 boys and 1 from 19

girls in Indonesia were sexually abused (Suharto,

2015).

However, this data could be increase according to

one of protection agency in Indonesia that called

Lembaga Perlindungan Saksi dan Korban (LPSK),

there is a growing number of requests to protect

victims of child sexual abuse from 2016 to 2019. The

same increasing cases also happen in Sumatera Utara

Province, Indonesia. Based on the case responding

data from Satuan Bakti Pekerja Sosial (Sakti Peksos

PA), the number of child sexual abuse victims in this

last three years; from 2016 to 2018; are also increased

from 152 in 2016 to 254 in 2018.

Even so, this number certainly cannot yet

represent the real condition of sexual abuse against

children because this phenomenon is similar to the

iceberg phenomenon. The number of cases is only a

small portion of the visible tip in the iceberg, whereas

an untreated case is an invisible iceberg that drawn

under the water.

The issue of sexual violence is important for

Indonesia to think about since children as a young

generation are a reflection of the future sustainability

of a nation. In other words, the handling of the

problem of sexual violence against children will

determine the quality of Indonesian generations in the

future. This becomes very important considering

sexual violence can certainly have an impact on

children's development.

The impact of child sexual abuse may or may not

be apparent in the early stage but we can state that it

is positively harmful for the victims. In short therm,

it could cause anxiety, fear, nightmares, difficulty in

understanding, and health issue and it could be worst

in long therm because neglected children may suffer

a particular behavioral problem such as abusive

behavior or phobia. In the worst case, some child

sexual abuse victims may be at risk for repeating the

abusive behavior when they grrew up as an adult

(Noviana, 2015).

In addition to the shocks caused by sexual

violence, children are generally afraid to report both

because of the threat posed by the perpetrators and

Lubis, M. and Putri, M.

The Perception of Child Sexual Abuse Parents about Child Protection Workers Services in Medan City, Sumatera Utara.

DOI: 10.5220/0010018603050311

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 3 2019) - Social Engineering Governance for the People, Technology and Infrastructure in

Revolution Industry 4.0, pages 305-311

ISBN: 978-989-758-472-5

305

also the consequences that must be experienced by

children after reporting such as shame and guilt.

Besides, the overly legalistic approach in the juvenile

justice system often fails to treat children especially

for children victims of sexual violence. This certainly

adds to its trauma for children victims of sexual

violence. Feelings of pressure and even torture when

they have to tell and testify about sexual violence they

experienced will aggravate the shock experienced by

children, especially when they are dealing with a

justice system where victims will provide information

and testimony during the judicial process.

Furthermore, Suharto (2015) notes that child

victims of sexual violence are in a vulnerable

condition, lack information about services, have a

traumatic impact, and in general the perpetrators

come from the immediate environment of the child.

The impact of sexual abuse and the harm it does to

children can be reduced or mitigated by special care

and services from all professions that concern in child

welfare. One of the profession that concern with child

welfare issues and also playe an important role in the

child protection systems is Social Workers or also

known as Child Protection Workers. Child protection

workers in their practices are oriented for the best

interest of children and to fulfill their rights. As a

profession, child protection workers are designed to

identify the condition of child sexual victims in a

comprehensive view which contains psychological,

legal, social and many aspects that could protect them

from further victimization. A core goal for these

workers is to provide protection and potential services

that could reduce the abuse impact on children.

In Indonesia, one of child protection workers who

give an intervention by their services for child abuse

victims is Satuan Bakti Pekerja Sosial Perlindungan

Anak or also known as Sakti Peksos Pa. Sakti Peksos

PA is a child protection worker mandated by The

Indonesian Social Ministry to responding child

problem issues including child sexual abuse.

However, whether the social services provided by

Sakti Peksos are in accordance with the expected

handling, especially in Medan city where the number

of children victims of social violence continues to

increase. Based on the urgency and conditions of

child sexual violence that exist as well as the potential

possessed by the profession of social workers in

addressing these problems, the researcher is

interested in raising the title of the research "Family

Perceptions of Children Victims of Sexual Violence

against Social Services of Medan Social Workers

Social Service".

2 METHOD

This research used a qualitative grounded theory

approach with in-depth qualitative interviews on

understanding the perspective of parents about child

protection workers services as a response for child

sexual abuse cases that happened with their children.

This research conducted face-to-face interviews of 4

parents who had received child protection services

from Satuan Bakti Pekerjaan Sosial Perlindungan

Anak (Sakti Peksos PA) in Medan, Sumatera Utara

Province, Indonesia. Besides, this research also

interviews 3 workers and 1 supervisor of Sakti Peksos

PA in Medan to understanding their obstacles in

giving the services for the child abuse victim. Data

was collected using an interview guide and was

analyzed by transcribing and coding the verbatim into

themes and categories before it summarized.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Social Services for Children Sexual

Abuse Victims

Social services are a set of activities that are shown to

provide the ability for individuals, families, groups

and community units to overcome social problems

caused by conditions that are always changing. The

main thoughts of the definition are (1) the existence

of a set of organized activities and (2) the ability of

people (individually or collectively) in overcoming

problems (Wijayanti in Tamimi and Humaedi, 2017).

Viewed from the perspective of social work, the

aid process or social work process is a form of social

work practice. As a form of practice of social work,

the social services provided will always be related to

the social work process. Max Siporin (1997) in Amin,

Krisnani, & Irfan (2014) explains that the process of

providing services to clients is divided into several

stages namely Engagement, Intake, and Contract

(Social workers build trust and service contracts with

clients); Assessment (Social Workers Analyze

problems and potential owned by the client); Planning

(Social Worker plans for services needed by the

client; Intervention (Service Delivery); Evaluation

and Termination (Social Worker analyzes the impact

of changing clients after receiving services).

Related to the theory, here are the stages in the

provision of social services for children victims of

sexual violence that have been carried out by Satuan

Bakti Pekerja Sosial Perlindungan Anak (Sakti

Peksos PA):

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A. Engagement, Intake, and Contract

Engagement can be interpreted as the process of

building an agreement with the child (and) family to

get services within the framework of case

management. Whereas Intake is a process to get

certainty whether a child and his family do indeed

have child problems and therefore require child

protection services. A Contract is an agreement

between social workers and clients to solve problems

in the form of a written agreement (Directorate of

Social Welfare in Husna and Saleh, 2017).

In the child protection services that provided by

the Satuan Bakti Pekerja Sosial Perlindungan Anak

(Sakti Peksos PA), there are 3 ways of how social

workers connect with clients at the engagement stage:

first, the client comes with an independent awareness

to get assistance; second, social workers who directly

come down and screening the clients to connect with

services; and lastly, by a referral system where clients

are referred by relevant stakeholders to obtain

services.

For client who engaged through the screening or

social worker initiatives, social workers are generally

respond to cases based on reports received either

through public reports that directly comes, news in

the mass media, or reports from Telepon Pintar

Sahabat Anak (TEPSA) which is the Social Ministry's

hotline to accommodate public reporting on child

problems which includes child sexual abuse problem.

The public report that came from TEPSA will be

linked to the Social Workers Service Unit (Sakti

Peksos) in each region through the Rapid Reaction

Team called Tim Reaksi Cepat (TRC) to get

responded as quickly as possible.

In addition to the process of how social workers

connected to the client for the first time, the

engagement stage also talks about how the social

worker tries to gain client trust and make them feel

comfortable to share their problem. In this phase,

Sakti Peksos often utilizes assistive media to gain

children's trust, such as playing equipment, drawing

equipment or occasionally bringing food that is

considered to be a child's favorite. Also, social

workers often invite children to play or chat to gain

trust and build communication with the children.

For the Intake phase, in obtaining certainty about

problems and the need for services, Sakti Peksos will

provide an explanation of the problems and functions

of social services for child victims of sexual violence.

Besides, social workers will also explain what

services and how long the service will be received to

be understood by parents regarding decision making

to obtain services.

After the client (through the victim's parents)

understands the problem and the need for services, the

client through their parents or family will decide to

obtain the service or not. Their decision will be

agreed in the form of a written service contract

containing the client's willingness and awareness to

receive the service.

B. Assessment

Assessment is the collection and retrieval data

used in decision making for the services. Assessment

is a key stage in determining each stage of

intervention and program success. This stage aims to

explore, identify problems, potential, and sources of

solutions that exist in the family, group or peers and

the community. In other words, the assessment is

carried out to identify problems and the need for

problem-solving by involving all potential

surrounding sources including parents, family,

neighbors, and children's peer group.

Social worker assessment involves a variety of

procedures that starts from clinical interviews to the

use of standardized assessment instruments,

observation checklists, psychosocial conditions,

information from important people around the client

(information from significant others) , and analysis of

case notes (analysis of case records). Ideally,

assessment is a collaboration between social workers

and clients, even though the specific language usually

comes from professional expertise. The assessment is

a wide range and includes an assessment of the

potential, needs and social networks of the client that

determines the scope and severity of the problem

(Ridley, Li and Hill in Husmiati, 2012).

C. Planning

In the world of social work and social welfare

science today, planning is known as one of the

important elements in developing effective services

to clients or target groups. Max Siporin defined this

stage as a deliberate, rational process that involves the

choice of actions that are calculated to achieve

specific objectives in some future times. It also is

described as policy choice and programming in the

light of facts. Projection and application of value

(Amin, Krisnani and Irfan, 2014),

This stage is a stage to arrange and develop a

comprehensive service for clients that is compatible

with the results. The results of the identification of the

problems obtained from the discussion, then

compiled into one problem formulation and then can

be determined specific problems that are used to

prepare plans. To determine success, a management

program needs to organized the criteria of evaluation

in the planning stage.

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D. Intervention

At this stage, the problem-solving activities are

carried out. In addition, in the implementation of this

intervention social workers are required to try to

actively involve recipients of services in every

activity they do. At this stage, the social worker

cooperates with what is needed by the victims of

violence. The case manager connects the victim to the

appropriate source but also emphasizes the

coordination between the sources used and needed by

the victim by becoming a channel and the main points

of integrated communication.

E. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Termination

According to Marzuki and Suharto (in Tamimi

and Humaedi, 2017), monitoring is the ongoing

monitoring of the planning process and the

implementation of activities. Monitoring can be done

by participating in activities or reading the results of

reports from the implementing activities. Monitoring

can also be said as the process of gathering

information about what happened during the

implementation process. The purpose of monitoring

itself is to: 1. Know how input sources in the plan are

used 2. How activities in implementation are carried

out 3. Whether the implementation timeframe is met

appropriately or not 4. Does every aspect of planning

and implementation go according to which is

expected?

But to facilitate our understanding of monitoring

needs to be distinguished from the evaluation.

Monitoring is monitoring the process and success of

the group that is carried out at each stage of the phase,

while evaluation can be interpreted as identifying or

measuring the overall process and outcome of group

activities. The monitoring phase carried out by Sakti

Peksos in the service of child victims of sexual

violence is a case manager who evaluates and

monitors the services that have been provided to

victims of violence and the suitability of the

implementation of services with the stated objectives.

Next is trying to find out the results that have been

achieved. Monitoring and evaluation itself are carried

out measurably and outlined in the form of a report to

see the achievement of objectives.

At the termination stage, the social worker must

make a formal termination of service along with a

reference whether the child/ client will live with the

family or be handed over to the child's social welfare

institution (LKSA) if the condition of the child is

considered irrevocable to the family for the benefit of

the child. However, social workers must always

monitor the child/ client through the family. Whereas

for children/ clients who need a referral, the

institution will make a referral letter to the relevant

institution. The termination steps are preparing a

child development report during the mentoring

process and preparing a termination/ referral letter to

interested parties, can the family or institution that

receives the referral.

3.2 Parents' Perceptions of Social

Services in Medan

A. Engagement, Intake, and Contract

Based on interviews conducted with the four

informants at the engagement stage, the child's

parents claimed to have never heard of the Child

Social Worker profession before so they did not try to

obtain services independently. The four informants

themselves are connected with social workers to

receive services because they are referred by relevant

stakeholders. Three of the 4 informants namely Mrs.

Viona, Mrs. Nurhayati, and Mrs. Kartini claimed to

be referred by Law Enforcement Officials namely the

police and prosecutors when their child's case was in

the process of law. Slightly different, one informant,

Mr. Sejahtera, was referred to through the Indonesian

Child Protection Commission.

In addition to how social workers can gain client

trust, the four informants claimed that social workers

often invited their children to communicate and play.

Not all children can mingle with social workers, some

require time and a special approach to adjust to social

workers. As with Alya Putri from informant Ibu

Viona, social workers must make several visits and

special techniques in gaining the trust of children. Not

only the client's trust, the trust of parents or family is

also built through social worker's awareness of the

problem situation and support or reinforcement in

problem-solving. Besides, parents also added that

social workers have never committed acts of blaming

that they often receive from other parties such as the

blame of the Law Enforcement Officials felt by Ms.

Kartini or the blame from the family received by Ms.

Nurhayati and Mrs. Viona.

For the intake itself, the four informants claimed

to get an explanation of their problems and what

services were provided by social workers to resolve

their problems. The four informants also explained

that social workers also held discussions about the

hopes for problem-solving and the importance of

family participation in problem-solving. Regarding

the explanation of how long the service will be

provided, the four informants claimed that the social

worker did not give a specific explanation about the

service length. After explaining, the social worker

then asks the parents' willingness to accept social

worker services verbally. But this was not made in the

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form of a written contract stating the willingness of

parents to consciously accept services for their

children.

B. Assessment

In the self-assessment stage, the four informants

who were the Parents of Children Victims of Sexual

Violence admitted that the term was still very

common for them. however, the four informants

claimed that social workers had explained to them

about the assessment and benefits of the assessment,

especially related to the mandate of the Criminal

Justice System which requires the Social Report to be

attached to the child's case file as a pre-requisite so

that the case could be legally processed. The social

report itself is the result of the assessment carried out

by the social worker. The social report will be used

by the Judge for consideration in decision making.

Social Worker Visits in the context of conducting

an assessment according to three out of four

informants were carried out more than 3 times and

one informant, namely Kartini, said that social

workers only visited their children once in relation to

the assessment. Even so, the four informants added

that outside of the visit in order to conduct an

assessment, the social worker actually continued to

carry out a question and answer process about the

condition and development of her child until the end

of the mentoring. He added that Ms. Kartini also said

that although social workers only make one official

visit related to the assessment, social workers

routinely monitor the development of their children

via telephone and text and continue to provide

reinforcement to their children.

The Social Workers' Assessment itself is carried

out privately with Children Victims of Sexual

Violence in which the child's parents may not

accompany the child in order to obtain the correct

information. Furthermore, the four informants

claimed not to know the specifics of the conversation

between the social worker and her child. However,

when asked about what activities are generally carried

out by Social Workers and children during the

assessment process the four informants answered that

at every meeting Social Workers would invite

children to play while being seen interviewing

children and observing children. In addition to the

assessment of children, social workers also

interviewed the four informants who were the parents

of the children related to differences in the behavior

of their children on a daily basis after the events

experienced by their children and the parents' and

family's hopes of solving their children's problems.

Regarding the results of the assessment, the four

informants said that social workers inform them

verbally about the results of their children's

assessment at each meeting. Even so, the four

informants claimed not to be re-informed of the

results of the Assessment as a whole so that the

Parents did not know the analysis of the problems

assessed by Social Workers occurring on their

children as well as the service plan that would be

provided by social workers in solving their children's

problems. The four informants also claimed to have

never been shown the results of the assessment report

in written form by social workers.

C. Planning

Although at the stage of the assessment Social

Workers ask parents' expectations regarding the

resolution of their child's problems, in the formulation

of an action plan this is not done. During the planning

stage, the four informants claimed that the Social

Workers did not discuss the planned intervention with

the Victim's Parent's Child. In addition, the four

informants also added that no case conferences were

carried out to their knowledge. Interventions are

generally given after social workers coordinate

verbally with the parents.

D. Intervention

During the intervention phase, all informants

received assistance services during the legal process.

This legal assistance is very helpful considering the

legal procedures that often make families feel

depressed. Like the informant Ms. Kartini, who felt

the conditions of the trial were tense. Kartini's mother

said that in the case of her child, there were a lot of

media who tried to report during the trial process. In

addition, the perpetrators' families also often put

pressure to make the children feel scared. This is what

makes him feel this service is very helpful for his

family where Social Workers always accompany

them during the Legal Process and continue to

provide encouragement and calm to their children.

Social workers also always ensure the condition of

their children is somewhat undressed when

undergoing legal proceedings. The same was felt by

the other three informants who said that with the

assistance of social workers, they felt stronger and

were confident that their children would get justice.

For physical health assistance, three informants

claimed to access this assistance independently

because they only met with social workers after the

legal process was running. Physical health itself was

a service that was carried out at the beginning when

our first problem arose where this service included

post mortem, ob-gyn examination and examination

other forms of violence. Informants Ibu Kartini and

Ibu Nurhayati said that in accessing health services

they were assisted by superiors or bosses in their

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309

respective places of work. As for the informant, Ibu

Viona accessed health independently. The only

informant who received assistance services for

physical health was Mr. Sejahtera this was due to the

assistance of Social Workers from the beginning. Mr.

prosperous said that to access his daughter's health

services free of charge accompanied by Social

Workers.

Furthermore, for mental or psychological health

services, two informants, namely Mrs. Nurhayati and

Ms. Kartini, did not seem to have an interest in this

service. When asked about psychic services they both

claimed not to access these services and focused more

on the legal process. Both of them even looked

confused about psychological and mental health

services. Furthermore, Kartini, whose daughter is a

teenager, added that at that time what she emphasized

was how to prevent her daughter from becoming

pregnant. After meeting with Social Workers, both of

them also claimed that their child did not get access

to this service. Efforts are made to minimize the

impact on the psychological health of their children

through the reinforcement provided by Social

Workers to their children.

Slightly different, Ibu Viona claimed to have

access to services from the police, despite that

psychologist services were only given once and were

considered insufficient. According to him even

though he was given tips and things to do to minimize

trauma. their children need expert assistance more

intensively in order to eliminate the impact of sexual

violence on their children. Ibu Viona considered that

the impact of sexual violence faced by her child was

not only limited to trauma. Alya is losing faith in

other people besides that he is also found several

times rubbing his cock on hard objects when not

noticed. Furthermore, Ms. Viona hopes that this

service can be maximized considering that parental

assistance is often not enough to overcome the impact

on children due to sexual violence.

The only informant who received mental and

psychological health services was the daughter of Mr.

Sejahtera. Social Workers help him access psychiatric

services ranging from post-traumatic mental health

checks to helping them access the costs of treating his

daughter's psychiatrist. Mr. Sejahtera admitted that he

was very helpful for this service, even though he said

that the impact of sexual violence on his daughter

continued to this day and made his daughter always

have to take medication given by a psychiatrist to

calm the effects of trauma experienced by children.

E. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Termination

The four informants claimed that they were not

invited to discuss and evaluate services or

interventions provided by Social Workers. In

addition, the four informants said that social workers

had never formally assessed the success of achieving

targets. After the case has been accompanied, the

Social Worker has never officially conducted a

Termination and only reduced the intensity of

meetings with clients. The evaluation will conclude

whether the intervention needs to be continued,

referred to or terminated. After the service is

complete, the client can be terminated. Some reasons

for termination are 1. The child decides on the

intervention process for a clear reason and is known

by the parent/guardian. 2. The service process has

ended, where the child returns to his/her

parents/guardian, obtains adoptive parents or

substitute families, and or is referred to other service

institutions. 3. Termination process through case

conference.

4 CONCLUSION

The conclusions of this study are:

1. Parents of child victims of sexual violence assume

that the services provided by social workers are

very helpful to them especially in providing

reinforcement to their families and children.

2. Legal assistance that is one of the services

provided by social workers is also considered by

the victim's parents to help reduce the pressure

faced by the victim during the legal process,

especially when the child has to deal with the

perpetrator and the perpetrator's family.

3. Victim rehabilitation services are considered by

parents to be very lacking and have not been felt

by all clients. Though this service is considered to

be very necessary to restore the condition of their

children as before.

4. Some stages of assistance or service delivery are

not carried out by social workers such as official

service contracts, re-socializing the results of

social worker assessments, involving parents in

service planning, and evaluating and terminating

services.

5 SUGGESTION

The suggestions in this study are:

1. It is hoped that the services of child victims of

sexual violence can be improved, especially

related to the rehabilitation of victims through the

provision of referral services for medical and

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310

psychological health that can be freely accessed

by children victims of sexual violence.

2. Provision of positive therapeutic activities that are

carried out continuously to provide positive

activities that can divert children from the

traumatic conditions they face. A standard

procedure is established for social workers to

provide services to children who are victims of

sexual violence.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to the LEMBAGA PENELITIAN

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA who have

provided research funding so that this research can be

carried out well. This research was funded by contract

number: 4167 / UN5.1.R / PPM / 2019 dated April 1,

2019 in the scheme PENELITIAN DOSEN MUDA

in 2019 which has provided research funding so that

this research can be conducted and published.

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