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The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited debates on care, exposing the vital role of social reproduction despite its ongoing devaluation. Recent studies underscore the urban marginal's multidimensional vulnerabilities during the pandemic, coupled with inadequate state support and excessive policing amid their disproportionate engagements in low-paying care work essential to the city. This study extends the literature by exploring the discourse of care amid the pandemic in Jakarta's rented social housing (rusunawa), Indonesia. As a state-owned settlement hosting displaced residents from informal settlements, rusunawa represents a new form of urban marginality. Based on an ethnography of three rusunawa between 2019 and 2021, I argue that paternalism defines the state's vision and operation of rusunawa. By portraying the residents as vulnerable yet ignorant, the state justifies the combination of disciplines and supports in 'caring' for them. The continued paternalistic care during the pandemic, with an intensification of disciplines and assistance, ameliorated the residents' antagonism against the state. Yet, access to state relief programs still hinged upon the residents' invocation of vulnerabilities and personal connection with rusunawa management. Lastly, I demonstrate the residents' intractable desire for a state that embodies a powerful yet nurturing parent, shaping their assessment of the quality of state care. • Paternalism defines Jakarta's social housing, combining discipline and supports. • Paternalism during the pandemic was facilitated by infrastructure of surveillance. • Discipline and increasing assistance improved the residents' opinion of the state. • Residents use paternalism to assess the state's quality of care. • There is an intractable desire for a powerful yet caring paternal figure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's participation and addressing global poverty are two dominant narratives within global development discourse and policy. Poverty disproportionately affects children, with World Bank estimates suggesting that of those living in extreme poverty globally (less than $1.90 per day), one third are children aged under 12 years. Childhood poverty is of particular policy concern, not only because of the large number of children affected, but also because of the long term consequences of childhood deprivation on affected individuals and for society as a whole. Yet, despite the prominence of rhetoric around 'listening to children's voices' within the global development agenda and the extent of child poverty, approaches to poverty reduction generally, and to childhood poverty more specifically, have remained remarkably adult-centric. While child poverty is widely recognised as a priority for global action, conceptualisations, definitions and measures of poverty are rarely based on children's own experiences, perceptions or priorities. This article argues that research with children on poverty offers a means of achieving a child-inclusive approach to poverty reduction. It reviews sixteen articles, published between 2000 and 2017, to explore the ways in which research with children had been undertaken in countries of the global South, outlining key findings and mapping the methodological and ethical challenges and identifying the policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]