Divorce causes serious risks and impact for children and women, according to Family, Woman, Child, Youth, and Sport (KPAPO) Director at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Woro Srihastuti Sulistyaningrum.

For instance, economic vulnerability due to divorce is very likely to occur due to reduction in income, she highlighted.

That affected prosperity and survival, especially if the mothers were not working, she noted at the Result of Monitoring toward Fulfillment of Child Care Rights to Single, Troubled, and Divorced Parents Advocacy webinar, Tuesday.

This potentially causes non-optimal fulfillment of children’s basic rights, she remarked.

Moreover, divorce will cause differing parenting patterns for children that increases the risk of abandonment.

Moreover, when mothers are forced to be the household head and work, and children have to be taken care of by other people, then they could potentially lose a good role model, she added.

This will affect these children’s daily behavior, she remarked.

In addition, divorce triggers mental health issues. For instance, children can experience trauma, pressure, guilt, and prolonged sadness that will affect their health and achievement at schools. This also applies to women.

“Then, children can also be the object in the fight over custody and distribution of assets which will make them uncomfortable, especially if they have to choose, which will pressure them,” Sulistyaningrum remarked.

Another impact of divorce involves the possibility of violence, whether it is verbal, physical, and sexual for women and children, she added.

Children also bear a risk of withdrawing from socializing or having difficulty to adapt. Moreover, there is the risk of gender injustice through stigmatization against divorced women.

“Women or wives are often the party blamed in a divorce case, and there is a negative connotation on widows in society,” she explained.

To this end, there are matters that should be considered in strengthening the rights of women and children in divorce, she stated.

Judges should have gender perspective in evaluating divorce cases, so that they can grant fair decision and consider the rights of children and the divorced party.

Moreover, there should be child assistance during the divorce process and regulation strengthening, particularly technical regulation that dictates the fulfillment of women and children’s rights during divorce cases.

Meanwhile, during the post-divorce period, there should also be an instrument and mechanism to monitor the implementation of the court’s decision, Sulistyaningrum noted.

“Then, the reporting mechanism should also be formulated if there is a violation of the court’s decision on matters, such as custody rights and support. Afterwards, there should be enforcement of penalty for violators,” she remarked.

In addition, assistance and provision of service to women and children is the most important aspect, specifically in divorce cases as a result of violence, she stated.

Source: Antara News