The growth of such child-care institutions - where kids encounter unhealthy conditions, forced labour and even abuse - has been encouraged by generous government funding.

Their numbers have jumped to 8,000 orphanages caring for 1.4 million children this year, up from 1,600 with 91,051 children in 1998.

That means Indonesia has more orphanages than any other country in the world.

The report released by charity group Save the Children, Unicef and Indonesia's Social Services Ministry found that only 6 per cent of the children in the orphanages were actually orphans.

'It was clear from the research that the great majority of these children were neither parentless nor were they abandoned by their families,' said the report.

They were placed in the institutions by families which could not afford to feed them or put them through school.

Most of the child-care institutions were set up by private organisations, particularly faith-based groups.

They had taken advantage of the generous government funding of 3,000 rupiah (S$0.45) per child per day at orphanages.

Save the Children country director Stephen Morrow said that families should not simply place their children in child-care institutions if money is an issue.

'Children have the right to know and grow up within their families, and they also have the right to education,' he said. 'They and their families should not be asked to choose between these two fundamental rights.'

An Indonesian child-care specialist involved in the study, Mr Tata Sudrajat, said that child-care institutions should be a last resort.

'If children have lost their parents, their extended family should support them,' he said at the release of the study.

A survey of child-care centres across six provinces - Central Java, Maluku, Nanggroe Aceh Darusalam, North Sulawesi, West Kalimantan and West Nusa Tenggara - last year found that health facilities were basic, and that water and sanitation were a concern in a majority of the institutions.

The study also questioned the quality of care that the children received.

Child-care managers were only interested in meeting the children's material needs on a daily basis. But they neglected their emotional needs as well as their physical development.

The study observed that the children had limited contact with their families. In fact, it found that at least one child had had no contact with his family for nine years.

Many of the orphanages were also understaffed, and the staff that they did have were inadequately trained, the study showed.

Most worrying, Mr Tata observed, was that some children were abused.

'They sometimes beat children who break rules,' he said.

Many of the orphanages also subjected the children to forced labour to save money or generate revenue. The children did not have enough time to play.

'Most of the child-care institutions have quite strict rules and regulations,' Mr Tata said. 'They do not have any child-protection policies to prevent violence against children.'

He wants the government to improve child-care centres by establishing minimum standards.

He suggested that staff be trained by groups such as Save the Children to raise awareness about children's education.

The report recommended that the government exercises more control over orphanages.

Most importantly, it should provide more direct support for poor families to deter them from giving up their children, it said.

salim@sph.com.sg