As divorce rates continue to rise in Indonesia, more single mothers are bearing the brunt of financial hardship and struggling to collect court-ordered child support from former spouses.

For some women, help comes from an initiative unique in the country: the East Java city of Surabaya bars men from accessing public services if they fail to pay court-ordered child support.

First introduced in 2023, the scheme has been used to block administrative access to more than 8,000 men, according to Irvan Wahyudrajad, head of the city’s Population and Civil Registration Agency.

“There are many men who fail to fulfil child support and alimony obligations despite court rulings. Their ex-wives and children ultimately bear the consequences,” Wahyudrajad said on April 7 when giving an update on the initiative.

Under the policy, men who do not pay court-ordered child support can be barred from accessing some 30 types of public services, including civil and population registration, applications for lost identity cards and the issuance of birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates, as well as the legalisation of essential documents.

In 2024, officials from Australia’s judiciary visited Surabaya to study the scheme. Indonesia’s Supreme Court is currently reviewing whether the policy can be expanded nationwide.