The report about Bahtiar Angkotasan, 47, who tied up his mentally disabled daughter in bed at their home in Bekasi, West Java, before he left for work every day, is yet another of the tragedies that affect so many of our children.

"I was forced to do it; it was the only way I could make sure she wouldn't go missing while I was away," Bahtiar, a father of two, said in a recent TV interview when asked why he tied up his 5-year-old daughter Gia Wahyuningsih.

Bahtiar, who divorced his wife three years ago, said he had no money to send his daughter to a mental hospital.

Gia is not the only one suffering. Media reports from a few weeks ago told of parents who locked up their infants without adequate food at their home for a week, and about a pregnant mother who offered to sell her unborn child because she could not afford to keep it.

Unfortunately, we may still see many similar tragedies in the future as poverty remains a serious problem that affects millions of Indonesians. We believe the reports about the misfortune of these children that have made it into the media are just the tip of the iceberg.

We welcome the statement by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Feb. 17 that the government would tailor social services for the country's most vulnerable groups of people. But what else is being offered?

Currently we have programs in place like the Raskin (subsidized rice for the poor) and Jamkesmas (health insurance for the poor). The question is why have such programs not reached all poor people – those like Bahtiar – who work odd jobs such as scavenging or busking on buses to earn a living?

We hope the government offers truly feasible programs that will address the shortage of similar programs in the past. We may need to learn from the failures of such services that have often missed their target, as many of the needy people have been unable to access such services.

We have also learned from the past that many poor people in urban areas have no access to such social services because they have no ID cards to show, as required by operators of such programs.

However, we must not ignore the strength of charity groups that have proven their effectiveness in collecting funds and channeling them to the most vulnerable people in this country. What we need is more credible and trustworthy charitable organizations to collect and channel donations to the right people.

Apart from tailoring such services, the government also needs to pass a regulation to guarantee that only credible and accountable charitable organizations work in the field. Granting tax holidays for individual or organizational donors is no less important than fostering the philanthropic spirit in society.

In short, we cannot just blame poor people, like Bahtiar, for not being able to fulfill the basic needs of their children due to extreme poverty. There are many resources available that can be used to end this shameful situation. Apart from expecting action from the government, the nation also needs trustworthy and skilled citizens to knock at the hearts of wealthy Indonesians in search of a helping hand for those in need.