Children Psychosocial Development: An Effort to Manage the Knowledge on Child Refugees in Indonesia

Abstract

Stateless refugees in Indonesia, especially children, encounter long-time obscurity and scarcity of resources before being placed in a destination country. As an effort to manage the knowledge of child refugees, this study discusses how parents contribute to their psychosocial development. This study uses qualitative research with indepth interviews and document studies. Interviews were conducted with refugee children who were Cisarua Refugee Learning Center (CRLC) students, aged 14-16, their parents, and teachers in West Java. This study suggests that, first, refugee children were advanced in psychosocial development for their ages, especially in the development of vision, ideals, and views of the future. Second, parents' socialization and the environment greatly affected refugee children's psychosocial development. Third, the environment integrated into the community-based organization (CRLC) contributed effectively to their development. Therefore, there must be family empowerment and institutionalization of community-based organizations in refugee camps for stateless children to develop properly.