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This paper delineates the intellectual history of endeavours to generate a unified science of child welfare in Finland in the early twentieth century by elucidating the efforts of leading Finnish protagonists to depict the concept of child welfare science. The idea of such a new science was not unique to Finland; similar trends emerged extensively throughout the industrialising world, in which child welfare was being increasingly championed. The fundamental reasons given for developing a child welfare science in Finland were linked with ambitions to develop child welfare as a consistent system in modern society. The aspiration to develop a scientific basis for child welfare was not only about adapting relevant research-based knowledge to practice, but also about creating historical and theoretical self-understanding in the field. The intention was to construct a comprehensive conceptual framework for the child welfare needed in policymaking, legislation, and systems building, as well as in the development of professional practices. Although focusing on Finland, the review is of more general significance.

Our main interest in this paper is in studying children's well-being by using children themselves as informants and fear as an indicator of insecurity from cross-cultural and longitudinal perspectives. More specifically our paper documents the changes in the content and prevalence of children's fears in two neighboring countries, Finland and Estonia, during the last decade. The study was carried out in 1993 and replicated in 2002/2003 in both countries with the random samples of total number of 420 five to six-year-old children (in Estonia 115 in 1993 and 91 in 2002; in Finland 105 and 109, respectively). For both countries the decade in question was a period of social, political and economic transition including post-socialist transformation in Estonia. Especially informationalization and globalization had a profound impact on the everyday life of parents and children. The increase of insecurity among children in both countries was expected. Children's fears were investigated by means of an individual semi-structured and picture-aided interview. The most important findings are: the prevalence of children's self-reported fears has generally increased during the ten years, especially among the Estonian children. The most significant increase was observed in both countries in fears of imagination-related things including television-related fears, fears of imagined creatures and of nightmares parallel to children's increased media-exposure in daily life. Despite the increase of general welfare in both countries our results suggest the opposite tendency among young children; decrease of safety and increase of insecurity. The level of children's insecurity was higher in Estonian than in Finland at both times. It is noteworthy that some fears of young children are "universal" (fear of getting lost, fear of darkness, fear of being alone), while some fears are more context dependent (television-induced fears, fear of strange people). Young children proved to be competent informants of their condition and well able to provide essential and invaluable information about their problems and well-being.

This paper examines populous perspectives of the government's responsibility to intervene in situations of possible parental neglect of children in England, Finland, Norway, and California (USA), and ask if institutional context, defined as child protection system and children´s wellbeing situation, are formative for people's perspectives on government responsibility for children in vulnerable situations and how they view children´s future. With representative samples of populations responses to a survey vignette using ordered logistic regression, findings indicate that the institutional context shed some light on differences on state responsibility. However, similarly to welfare state research, there are differences and contradictions in important dimensions that require further investigation, especially on citizens perceptions of neglect and on intrusive interventions. Citizens with a comparatively higher education are evidently much more supportive of state responsibility for children and child protection interventions than other citizens. This finding is similar to those of other studies of state responsibility. Overall, there is a high level of support in populations for the provision of public services to children and families in vulnerable situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper delineates the intellectual history of endeavours to generate a unified science of child welfare in Finland in the early twentieth century by elucidating the efforts of leading Finnish protagonists to depict the concept of child welfare science. The idea of such a new science was not unique to Finland; similar trends emerged extensively throughout the industrialising world, in which child welfare was being increasingly championed. The fundamental reasons given for developing a child welfare science in Finland were linked with ambitions to develop child welfare as a consistent system in modern society. The aspiration to develop a scientific basis for child welfare was not only about adapting relevant research-based knowledge to practice, but also about creating historical and theoretical self-understanding in the field. The intention was to construct a comprehensive conceptual framework for the child welfare needed in policymaking, legislation, and systems building, as well as in the development of professional practices. Although focusing on Finland, the review is of more general significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Walter Lorenz on social care to social work and another by Mirja Satka and Timo Harrikarri on child welfare in Finland.

Purpose: Children are gradually attaining recognition as service users and their involvement in service development has been advanced in recent years. This study draws on empirical research in social and health-care services designed for children and families. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how professionals understand children's involvement as experts by experience. The focus is on professionals' views and intergenerational relations. Design/methodology/approach: The research data comprise 25 individual and 10 group interviews with managers and professionals working in social and health-care services in one Finnish province. The data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. Findings: The professionals recognised the value of children's service user involvement. However, they concentrated more on the challenges than the possibilities it presents. Health-care professionals emphasised parental needs and children's vulnerability. In turn, the professionals from social services and child welfare non-governmental organisations perceived children as partners, although with reservations, as they discussed ethical issues widely and foregrounded the responsibilities of adults in protecting children. In general, the professionals in both domains saw themselves as having ethical responsibility to support children's service user involvement while at the same time setting limits to it. Originality/value: This study confirmed the importance of taking intergenerational relations into account when developing children's service user involvement. The results indicate that professionals also need to reflect on the ethical challenges with children themselves as, largely owing to the generational position of children as minors, they rarely perceive them as partners in ethical reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After-school reform in Finland is analysed as a case of state intervention in childhood and of inscribing political goals in an activity with children. The paper asks what understandings of children and childhood are communicated in and through the reform and its dispersed implementation. Theoretically, the paper is informed by new ways of governing in the late 20th century and by the concept of the social investment state. These are combined with an ethnographic approach which troubles the concept of governance and shows how it becomes enacted through social practices in local institutional settings. The paper explores the discursive 'truths' about children's after-school time and how these differ across contrasting institutional contexts, shaping and reshaping ideas around what is good in and for childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Child & Family Social Work is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of front‐line practices regarding emergency removals in Finnish and Irish child protection. It examines how the responses to children's immediate danger are framed by legislation and how front‐line practitioners assess the child's situation and make emergency placement decisions. The data consist of interviews with 16 Irish and 33 Finnish social workers. These child welfare protection systems respond differently to a task that appears to be similar. The Irish team‐based practice rests on the social workers' shared assessment of the child's needs, and the formal decision is made by the courts (or police officers at night‐time); and the Finnish practice involves only one single social worker who makes both the assessment and the removal decision. The Irish system is tightly time regulated, whereas the Finnish system provides a more flexible time frame. Both approaches put a lot of stress on social workers' practice, which also includes creative workarounds (e.g., "planned emergency removals" in Finland). Future research will need to explore these features from the point of view of a child's right to protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child welfare practice is temporally structured and includes a variety of follow-up activities. Practice-based follow-up has not, however, been much explored when studying children's paths in the child welfare system. This paper is based on a study of children (103) who were taken into care in 2006 in 10 Finnish municipalities and their paths in care until 2011. The social workers' institutional knowledge of their 'own' clients comprises the core of the research design. The paper reflects on the nature of this data from the point of view of the notions of temporality. The analysis highlights four temporal trajectories used in retrospective analysis of children's paths in care: the linear time trajectory of the decisions and changes in the institutional positions, the temporally fragmentary trajectory of childhood and youth, the circular time trajectory of professional understanding of the child's path and the silent time trajectory. Each one documents the children's paths differently; the linear one tends to be the 'natural' and most easily available trajectory and consequently, the children's paths are documented via decisions and institutional positions. The analysis suggests that more attention should be given to the complexity of time and temporality when studying children's paths in child welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Australian Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper compares how frontline staff in four national child welfare systems and policy contexts - Finland, Norway, England and the USA (specifically, California) - respond to questions about a scenario of possible harm to children. The countries have different child welfare systems that we anticipated would be reflected in the workers' responses ( n = 1027). The analysis shows differences and similarities between the systems, although often not in line with system expectations. There is also variation within the country samples. The study shows the complex interactions of individual and agency characteristics in addition to the role of proceduralised decision-making systems and professional discretion. Key Practitioner Messages Professional discretion differs., Proceduralised and high threshold systems result in less variation between workers' responses., System categories do not seem to capture the nuances of frontline decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on an international comparative study of social work decision making in cases that are on the edge of care order proceedings, involving child protection workers from Finland, Norway, England and the USA (California). It focuses on workers' responses in an online questionnaire to questions about the use of independent experts to inform their decisions about whether or not to take a case to court. All the countries try to avoid taking cases to court if possible, but the ways they do this vary considerably. The findings show the different meanings and implications that the request for an independent assessment has in the different systems. Workers' views reflect the roles and tasks that independent experts have in the different countries; and these in turn reflect their distinctive child protection systems and wider child welfare approaches. The paper offers a starting point for reflection about one's own system, and suggests that the well-known distinction between family support and child protection models should not be seen as a simple binary categorisation, but rather as a complex, contingent and contested continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses children's experiences of (in)security in cases of post-separation stalking and asks how children can be safeguarded under such circumstances. Children are at particular risk when the family is stalked by the biological father or stepfather. This qualitative study draws on data collected from 13 children using three different methods: therapeutically-oriented group sessions, interviews with the children and a series of ten mother and child therapy sessions. Supplementing these data are insights gained from interviews with 18 women/mothers, the main targets of the stalking. The analysis of the narratives distinguishes three overlapping forms of security - eroded, lost and reconstructed - in which the degree of trust and extent of knowledge are the main elements. Children feel insecurity to different degrees and experiences of (in)security may vary even from child to child in the same family. The findings highlight the crucial importance of considering a child's relationship to his or her mother, siblings and trusted adults when intervening in stalking. Loved ones, day care and school staff, and social welfare workers have a significant role to play in reconstructing and strengthening children's security. The study suggests that this can be done through 'safety talk' with a mother and her children. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages In cases of post-separation stalking of the family, children's security can appear in three forms: eroded, lost and reconstructed., Feelings of insecurity vary and can appear to differing degrees within the same family., It is important in safeguarding children to lighten the burden that they take upon themselves of reconstructing security for themselves and their loved ones., Practitioners can play a significant role by providing space for and facilitating 'safety talk' between children and their mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• The Finnish Baby Box provides parents of newborns with a wide range of infant clothing and other basics. • The cardboard box in which the infant can sleep was emphasized by the media and commercial companies outside Finland. • The box preventing SIDS was advanced by private companies and the media. • This was less the case in Wales and Scotland, a result of their being governed by authorities with a "left" orientation. For over 80 years the Finnish state has provided expectant mothers with a cardboard box containing an extensive collection of clothing, bathing products for the baby, nappies, bedding and a small mattress. Numerous jurisdictions have implemented it in some form. We investigated through a critical case study methodology whether its translation into the liberal welfare states of Canada, UK, and USA experienced message distortion (the box as a means of preventing SIDS), commercialization, watering down of content; and separation from the complex of Finnish welfare state policies that support families with children. We find that only Scotland and Wales recognized the decommodification and equity roles played by the baby box. This study identified numerous barriers to building progressive public policy in Canada, UK, and USA: the structures and processes of the liberal welfare state, commercial interests that skew public policymaking and media logic that limits news reporting to the concrete and simple, eschewing complex analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this paper was to investigate how well children's health until age 7 years can be predicted by perinatal outcome using routine health registers.Methods: Follow-up of one year cohort (N = 60192) was performed by record linkages with personal identification number. The data came from the 1987 Finnish Medical Birth Register, from six other national registers and from education registers of one county.Results: All perinatal health indicators showed a strong correlation with subsequent health, and prediction of good health was satisfactory: 85% of children who were healthy in the perinatal period did not have any reported health problems in early childhood, and 91% of children healthy in early childhood had been healthy in the perinatal period. However, it was not possible to predict poor health outcome: 76% of the children with reported perinatal problems were healthy in early childhood, and 87% of the children with long-term morbidity in childhood did not have any perinatal problems.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that in assessing risk factors and health care technology, monitoring perinatal health is not enough and long-term follow-ups are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the longer term outcomes of young people who experienced out of home care (OHC) as children, in Britain, Germany and Finland, countries characterised by different welfare regimes. While there is some evidence on immediate transitions after leaving care (up to age 21), there is less evidence on experiences around age 30, a phase of early adulthood. Drawing on existing longitudinal data for general population samples we focus on outcomes related to education, employment, family, health and receipt of welfare benefits for those who were ever in care and those who were not. We find evidence for continuing disadvantage regarding education and employment for those who were in care as children, but also indications of subjective wellbeing and commitment to family life – possibly a reflection of “normality” and efforts to “fit in” as parents. Surprisingly, despite variations in welfare system and differences in the scope and quality of available data, trends were similar in each of the countries, suggesting that none provide adequately for the needs of care experienced young adults. The findings point towards the need for a revised conceptualisation of the notion of “independence” which has to take into account the manifold and changing relationships between individuals and the state. Instead of a “cliff edge” approach there should be support for a more gradual shift from “dependence” to “independence” enabling those with care experience to develop their full potential. In interpreting the findings, limitations of the available data have to be acknowledged, pointing to the need for generating harmonised and longitudinal data on vulnerable subpopulations to enable effective monitoring of needs and provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If children in child protection cannot be cared for by their natural parents, should they be adopted or live in foster home? Results from a study of representative samples of populations (n = 12 330), in eight European countries—Austria, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Spain—and California, USA, reveal that people would recommend adoption over foster care, if a child in public care cannot grow up with their natural parent(s). There are cross‐country differences between populations, and examining if institutional context such as type of child protection system explains differences, we find that child maltreatment‐oriented systems are more supportive of adoption than other types of systems. Citizens having little confidence in the child protection system were only weakly correlated with preference for adoption. In conclusion, people prefer adoption as placement options for children in care are more than foster homes, and possible this finding reflects a sort of refamalialization of children into the private sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vague programme descriptions are known to impede implementation and evaluation. Yet social work change programmes often fail to describe in detail how they aim to provide better outcomes for children and families. This study focused on the Systemic Practice Model (SPM), which is a Finnish adaptation of Reclaiming Social Work, a practice model developed in England. The SPM aims to deliver systemic practice in children's social care and has recently been widely disseminated across Finland. However, research has found both considerable variation in its delivery and a lack of clarity about what it is. This study, applying realist evaluation, aimed to formulate a programme theory based on the perceptions of key informants (n = 12) involved in the national development and dissemination of the SPM during the period 2017–2019. The analysis yielded three core components (a systemic team, systemic weekly meetings, and systemic practice) and two context‐mechanism‐outcome (CMO) configurations, which represent causal chains of the SPM. The findings should enable its quality implementation and meaningful outcome and process evaluation. The findings will also aid organizations and practitioners both to identify changes required in their service provision and prevent adverse effects. This programme theory should be tested and refined with empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children and young people placed in out‐of‐home care form a vulnerable group. Their involvement in decision making of their future is undermined by the lack of a safe 'adult security net' and the brevity of the period in which they are supposed to gain independence. Although there are some studies showing that the opportunity to affect the decision making is insufficient, there are no studies about how the involvement might actually be developed. This study describes young people's experiences of their involvement and the developmental needs for it in aftercare services for child welfare clients. The design was that of a qualitative explorative study. In total, 16 care leavers participated in the study. Data were collected by thematic interviews in autumn 2016 and analysed by qualitative content analysis. Good value‐based collaboration with the staff and the possibility of mental, concrete and social support enhanced the young people's active involvement in their lives. The topics the interviewees wanted to see developed included the core values in the aftercare services, the comprehensiveness of the support and a future‐oriented approach. Collaborative relationships should, it emerged, be based on individuality, equality, fairness, trust, a non‐judgmental attitude, flexibility and safety and a general approach valuing, respecting, listening to and empowering the young person. Support should be provided with a comprehensive approach and in a multiprofessional and coordinated manner. The transition period to an independent life should be extended and carefully prepared, with an option for the continuity of the collaboration with the employees if needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the multiple and sometimes contradictory demands within the current discourse on child welfare, this paper explores institutional approaches within Finnish child welfare to conceptualizing individuals with problematic substance use. The data consist of observations of everyday life and institutional client-meetings in three so-called professional foster homes in the Helsinki area. Three different interpretative repertoires dealing with problems related to substance use among children and their families were identified in the analysis. In the first approach a strictly regulated policy regarding the use of substances was combined with support. In the second approach, substance use was approached with stronger demands for self-regulation and with less support. The guiding principle seems to have been trust. In the final approach, severe and prolonged behavioral problems were dealt with. Punitive responses were also seen to be present. The main finding was that those with severe problems were met with less support and more demands for self-regulation. As a last resort, repressive approaches were suggested. It therefore seemed like the autonomy offered for those with very little resources created obligations and demands that were hard to meet for the child atone. A possible conclusion is that a more humane perception, which also takes into account possible unfavorable structural factors leading to behavioral problems, could benefit the single child. A more coherent, overarching substance use policy could further help professionals in charge of difficult and threatening situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated on the margins of Europe, Scotland and Finland are small countries which share similar demographic and economic profiles. In many European countries, residential child care can also be considered to be 'on the margin' of child care provision; there is ambivalence about residential care and a view that it should be used as a last resort. This paper examines systems and practices of residential care in Scotland and Finland, locating these in the context of wider child welfare policy in both countries. The underpinning principles of child welfare provision in both countries are similar -- based on children's rights and primarily family-focused. In both countries there are also similar concerns about the fragmentation of child care provision and the cost of residential services. However, there are also important differences relating to child welfare provision and the use of residential care. In Finland, overall numbers of children in residential care are much greater than in Scotland; the age profile of these children and young people is very different; and the two countries vary markedly in the use of secure accommodation and custody. This comparative analysis suggests new ways of understanding the similarities and difference in the use of residential care in the two countries. It highlights the continuing challenge to develop residential care as a positive and integral part of a continuum of care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research suggests that young adults from out‐of‐home care (OHC) are at high risk of low education and unemployment. However, there are no studies on their risk of long‐term NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training). This study compared the risk of NEET at age 21–23 among OHC youth across Denmark, Finland and Sweden, using register data for an entire birth cohort born in 1987. The Nordic countries share many features, but there are differences in the provision of after‐care support and in the linkage between the educational system and the labour market. The results show that about a fourth in Denmark and Sweden and a third in Finland were NEET, suggesting that the welfare systems were not able to compensate for the OHC youth's childhood disadvantages. To a significant extent, the excess risk of NEET was attributed to poor school performance. Implications for research, policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Competence is an essential part of any decision-making process. In child protection, it is challenged by the controversial nature of child removals and the vulnerable situations which children and parents experience therein. This article examines how and on what grounds social workers view parents and children to be competent to give their informed view in care order proceedings and what they do if doubts about competence arise. The analysis is based on 30 interviews with social workers in Finland. Findings: The professional ethos and ethics of social work were embedded in the social workers' descriptions of children's and parents' competence. The social workers were confident that the parents and children (of certain age) were competent to give their informed view about whether to consent to the care order proposal and the proposed substitute home. When they spoke about competence ascribed with hesitation, they described the vulnerability of service users, as well as their attitudes and withdrawal from contact. In the cases, social workers emphasized a strength-based view of children and parents and aimed to 'talk more' with them and to 'give them more time' to support their right to give an informed view. Applications: Social vulnerability and competence should be explored reflectively in relation to decision-making in child protection. A better understanding of their interrelation makes social workers more competent to support the service users' right to be included in decision-making. Critical awareness is needed to recognize when 'more talk' is not enough to realize children's and parents' rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recognition of children as rights holders is a true challenge for any policy and practice that involves children, but it is even more so for making decisions about taking children into care. This article departs from the view that when children are perceived as bearers of rights, this should also be reflected in the institutional documents of decision‐making. That is why the documented layer of decisions about taking a child into care is examined here. The empirical data consist of documents of hearings (prehearing and hearing reports) in which children (33) are asked to give their view about a proposed care order and placement in Finland. The documented layers of involving children as rights holders are divided into two types: a minimalist type and a more individualised, thorough and detailed type. The former type represents children as rights holders in a routinised manner, whereas the latter one treats them in a particularised manner: how this particular child in this particular hearing received and gave information and on what grounds her/his view rested. As the documents may have some controversial implications, the recording of children as rights holders should not be treated as an isolated and technical issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eradicating homelessness is one of the most pressing challenges for efforts aimed at equity and social justice in the world. Many people who experience homelessness have histories of violence, growing up in child protection institutions, involvement in criminal activities, and mental and health problems connected with substance abuse. Homelessness is, therefore, a phenomenon which requires coherent and consistent cross-sectoral service integration and interorganisational service production. The way this challenge has been addressed so far in Finland may be interpreted as enacting a utopia when compared with other realities and the predominant views of impossibility to eradicate homelessness which stem from them. The article drafts an agenda aimed at disclosing how the utopia of eradicating homelessness is being enacted, what learning this involves, and how research on work and learning can concretely mediate and support the enactment processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Work-related mental distress and its impact on employees' working life is a mounting issue among Finnish social workers. This article focuses on identifying the factors associated with child welfare social workers' occupational well-being. The occupational well-being of Finnish child welfare social workers (N = 364) and social workers whose duties do not include child protection work (N = 524) was explored and compared with each other using t-test statistics and logistic regression analysis. The data, collected in 2014/2015, were obtained from an ongoing longitudinal cohort study on work-related well-being among Finnish public sector employees. A multi-dimensional and holistic approach to occupational well-being was used as the outline for the analysis and comparison of the two groups. Child protection social workers reported higher levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress than social workers without child protection duties. Despite these burdens, both groups showed a similar level of general health, compassion satisfaction and overall occupational well-being. Individual and organizational factors associated with high occupational well-being were identified. Supervision was found to be an important supporting element. This study identified multiple determinants related to social workers' occupational well-being, comprising positive and negative elements with regard to organizational and individual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the confidence the population (N = 4,003) has in the child welfare system in four countries - England, Finland, Norway and the USA (California). We find that about half or less of the population reports having confidence in the system, which is slightly higher than the confidence in the civil servants in the same countries. The Nordic countries display more confidence in the child welfare system than the Anglo-American countries. The similarity between the countries is, however, greater than anticipated. As for independent variables that can shed light on differences in confidence levels, we find three variables to be related to a higher confidence level, and these are a left wing political orientation, lower age, and higher education. This study contributes in filling a knowledge gap on studies about trust in the child welfare system, but we emphasize that we have studied an aspect of trust that rests on the population's impressions of a system, and not their substantial knowledge about, or identification with, this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens' opinions on child protection public policy are a key dimension of the legitimacy of a political order. We have conducted a survey vignette on a representative sample of citizens ( N = 4,003) in England, Finland, Norway, and California, USA. The findings show that citizens' opinions are clearly in favour of adoption (75%) rather than long-term foster care (25%). Context may partly explain the findings, as the responses of the majority of Anglo-American respondents are in line with practice in their countries but for the Nordic respondents, there is a substantial discrepancy between citizens' opinions and on-going child protection practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives To describe the family health, functioning, social support and child maltreatment risk and associations between them in families expecting a baby. Background Finland was one of the first countries in banning corporal punishment against children over 30 years ago. Despite of this, studies have shown that parents physically abuse their children. In addition, professionals struggle in intervention of this phenomenon. Abusive parents should be recognised and helped before actual violent behaviour. Design A follow-up case-control study, with a supportive intervention in the case group (families with a heightened risk) in maternity and child welfare clinics. The baseline results of families are described here. Methods Child maltreatment risk in families expecting a baby was measured by Child Abuse Potential Inventory. The health and functioning was measured by Family Health, Functioning and Social Support Scale. Data included 380 families. Results A total of 78 families had increased risk for child maltreatment. Heightened risk was associated with partners' age, mothers' education, partners' father's mental health problems, mothers' worry about partners' drinking and mothers' difficulties in talking about the family's problems. Risk was associated with family functioning and health. Families with risk received a less support from maternity clinics. Families with child maltreatment risk and related factors were found. Conclusions This knowledge can be applied for supporting families both during pregnancy and after the baby is born. Professionals working with families in maternity clinics need tools to recognise families with risk and aid a discussion with them about the family life situation. The Child Abuse Potential, as a part of evaluating the family life situation, seems to prove a useful tool in identifying families at risk. Relevance to clinical practice The results offer a valid and useful tool for recognising families with risk and provide knowledge about high-risk family situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Day care in Finland comprising care, education and teaching-called Educare or the ECEC model-can be used as an open care (community care) support measure for children whose development is at risk. The general aim of the study was to investigate whether the needs of child welfare client children and their parents are fulfilled in day care services from the perspective of parents and professionals. The questions were: (1) How are the individual needs of child protection client children met in day care? (2) In what way does day care support the parenting of child welfare client parents? (3) What kind of enabling and hindering factors, processes and mechanisms are there for good outcomes from day care for children and parents? The study uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The methods used were a questionnaire for parents (N = 42), group-level documentary materials from day care and social services officers about the problems faced by client children and parents, and interviews with ECEC and child welfare staff (N = 28). Parents experienced many problems, including exhaustion, poor mental health, substance abuse and parenting problems. Twenty percent of the children had individual support needs. The parents were very satisfied with the ECEC service their children were receiving and the parenting support provided. The ECEC professionals highlighted many positive changes in children in day care and they were also able to support parenting. The enabling and hindering factors for good outcomes were connected with the attitudes and problems of the clients, administrative processes within sectors, and cooperation between ECEC and child welfare staff. ECEC services can considerably increase the safety and well-being of child welfare client children and support their parents in their upbringing. The role and cooperation of ECEC and child welfare staff need clarification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Growing up with one parent is associated with economic hardship and health disadvantages, but there is limited evidence of its lifetime consequences. We examined whether being born to an unmarried mother is associated with socioeconomic position and marital history over the lifespan.Methods: We analysed data from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study including birth, child welfare clinic and school healthcare records from people born in Helsinki, Finland, between 1934 and 1944. Using a unique personal identification number, we linked these data to information on adult socioeconomic position from census data at 5-year intervals between 1970 and 2000, obtained from Statistics Finland.Results: Compared to children of married mothers, children of unmarried mothers were more likely to have lower educational attainment and occupational status (odds ratio for basic vs. tertiary education 3.40; 95 % confidence interval 2.17 to 5.20; for lowest vs. highest occupational category 2.75; 1.92 to 3.95). They were also less likely to reach the highest income third in adulthood and more likely to stay unmarried themselves. The associations were also present when adjusted for childhood socioeconomic position.Conclusion: Being born to an unmarried mother, in a society where marriage is the norm, is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage throughout life, over and above the disadvantage associated with childhood family occupational status. This disadvantage may in part mediate the association between low childhood socioeconomic position and health in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using administrative sources in the history of education and childhood involves a range of methodological and ethical considerations. This article discusses these problems, as well as the role of archives and archival policies in preserving history and shaping our understanding of past childhoods. Using Finnish child welfare archives from the post-war period (1945–1970) as an example, the article shows how the institutional gaze of administrative archives, together with various screening practices, has limited the research possibilities. Nevertheless, administrative records do offer important perspectives on the lives of marginalised children and young people that cannot be reached through other sources. The article closes with a critical discussion on the tightening research ethical regulations, and argues for the historian’s right to access original sources. Researchers’ rights should be ensured in forthcoming archival practices and legislation, and contested research topics should not be avoided because of research ethical uneasiness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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We report a five-nations project in comparative child protection to provide recommendations on policy and practice to inform the redevelopment of the Swiss child protection system. The Swiss Federal Government and the Optimus and Oak Foundations commissioned the project--collective title: Association Programme National pour la Protection de l'Enfant. We identify the historical developmental trajectories of child protection systems together with common drivers: the evidential basis for the prevalence and effects of child abuse, the co-joining of social and economic policies and practices to promote early investment in children, the influence of children's rights and comparative international league tables on child well-being. We describe the cross-national project methodology and analysis of results. Three key indicators for the performance of national child protection systems are indicated: creating a culturally sensitive child protection governance framework, building a relational heart and using evidence to inform policy and practice. These encapsulate the recommendations made with respect to the Swiss child protection system. The results provide a prototype model with potential utility in similar cross-national studies, and add weight to the argument that cross-cultural learning in the context of a globalised society is not only possible, but desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to explore how, why and what type of information social workers filterout fromcase records in child protection. Recording is understood as a process of four partially overlapping phases: encountering with the stakeholders, making notes, recording by a client information system and reading the case records. The data consist of social workers' and social work managers' interviews and social workers' observation and verbal accounts in natural work settings. The findings show that information was filtered out in each phase. The intentional reasons were often shaped by social context and norms. The unintentional reasons, instead, were often related to everyday realities at work. In the records, the information filtering manifested in wording the text, regulating the amount of details and, in some cases, omitting certain topics fully. The information gaps generated by filtering were faced and interpreted when the records were read. The role of the information system in reducing client information was minor compared to human actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces four case studies from Wales, France and Finland and explores the situated, intergenerational and dynamic nature of collective participation in child welfare settings. Collective participation is conceived of as a process of engagement in which children and young people have some influence over the initiation or direction of a project; and as seeking a product, or outcome. The case studies represent a range of forms of collective engagement and highlight some key resources which supported children's participation (communicative spaces, time, money, knowledge, social position, attitudes, social networks, institutional commitment, equipment, food and transport). Challenges encountered in achieving effective participation in different nations within Europe are also identified, related to generation barriers and the distribution of resources. These elements are used to construct a lattice of participation: a model for conceptualising children and young people's collective engagement in participatory projects. The model provides a tool for visualising how, at different stages of a project, actors (children, young facilitators, adults and institutions) exercise influence by directing the use of different resources, such as finance and time. It invites reflection on why influence is limited in some stages of a participatory project, and how it is supported in other stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined whether the use of health care and special school services, prior to admission for psychiatric inpatient treatment, differed between adolescents from child welfare units and those living at their parental home. 208 boys and 300 girls aged 12-17 years were admitted for psychiatric hospital between 2001 and 2006. Child welfare adolescents had used more health services/treatments prior to psychiatric hospital admission than adolescents living with their biological family. The best discriminating factors between study groups for both genders, were previous psychiatric hospitalizations, unemployed parents, use of special school services and self-perceived serious anxiety/tension or trouble controlling violent behavior. Repeated school grades and previous use of psychotropic medications were discriminating factors only in girls. Adolescents in child welfare deserve adequate mental health evaluations at an early stage, with referral to appropriate adolescent psychiatric services if required. Appropriate service provision and properly planned treatments may reduce the amount of intensive and sometimes unnecessary psychiatric inpatient treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to demonstrate how a derived approach to case file analysis, influenced by the work of Michel Foucault and Dorothy E. Smith, can offer innovative means by which to study the relations between discourse and practices in child welfare. The article explores text-based forms of organization in histories of child protection in Finland and in Northern Ireland. It is focused on case file records in different organizational child protection contexts in two jurisdictions. Building on a previous article (Satka and Skehill, 2011), we attempt to demonstrate the potential of how the relations between practices and discourses – a majorly important theme for understanding child welfare social work – can be effectively analysed using a combination of two approaches. This article is based on three different empirical studies from our two jurisdictions Northern Ireland (UK) and Finland; one study used Foucault; the other Smith and the third study sought to combine the methods. This article seeks to report on ongoing work in developing, for child welfare studies, ‘a history that speaks back’ as we have described it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT Families and social work interventions in their lives are at the core of child welfare. Child welfare practices can shape children's and parents' family memories and narratives of different family relations. However, there is little social work research so far based on the personal narratives of people who have lived in care. The study data consist of the written life stories and biographical interviews of three women who have lived part of their childhood in children's homes. In their narratives, the most central family relation was their relationship to the mother. They used different narrative strategies in their stories while trying to manage both living their childhood in care and presenting their mother morally in the same story. The central moral and emotional stance in the narratives of the mother-daughter relationship was love. Through the analysis, three moral characters of the mother were constructed. The first told about an absent mother, the second a loved and loving mother and in the third, the mother's moral character was continuously negotiated and contested. Constructing a personal story and moral character of oneself and of one's mother can be truly risky in the context of a childhood in care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers the accounts of mothers who have been using illegal drugs, have received treatment and are in the process of recovering. The data is based on 19 individual interviews conducted between May and December 2005 in two institutions for female drug users in southern Finland. The primary aim is to discuss the self-conceptions of the interviewed women as they related their experiences with social workers and the child welfare system. The study relies on the social constructionist view of identity as a self-construction created in situations of interaction and routines of everyday life. As a result, four different categories of motherhood identities and their connections to the various positions of child welfare authorities identified in the interviews of women with drug histories are presented: Responsible motherhood — asking for help, Giving up motherhood — submitting to outside forces, Strategic motherhood — learning to cope and Stigmatized motherhood — fighting back. Asking help from child welfare services was the only category in which the mothers were able to manifest responsible motherhood and co-operate with social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim was to obtain versatile information on the communication and socioemotional development of implanted children in their everyday environment. We studied 18 children implanted unilaterally at the mean age of 3 years 4 months. All had normal nonverbal intelligence, but 8 (44%) had concomitant problems. Their parents filled out semistructured questionnaires at 6 months and then annually 1–5 years after activation. Parents reported a change from use of signs to speech, and changes in the children's vocal behavior and spoken language development. They also reported that children had calmed down and showed an increased sense of self-confidence and safety with an expanded social life. The greatest changes started to take place 1 year after implantation. Five years after implantation, two thirds of children were judged to be as independent as their age peers. We conclude that changes in communication pave the way to benefits in psychosocial development after implantation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tarja Pösö uses memory work with professionals to examine the intercountry adoption of Finnish children that took place from the 1950s to the 1970s. Since then, however, Finland has been a receiving country for children adopted from abroad and even the domestic adoption of those born in Finland is rare. The aim of the study is to shed light on the time, space and culture-bound character of child protection and intercountry adoption. The data consist of group conversations with the social workers, now retired, who arranged the intercountry adoptions. The importance of the data is emphasised by the fact that no research or statistics exist on these adoptions; indeed, there is little knowledge that they ever took place. The Finnish example shows that the need and opportunities for intercountry adoptions may vary even within a relatively short period of time. The current global pattern of intercountry adoptions cannot be considered permanent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses comparative research on what has come to be called, in (British) English, ‘child protection’ or, rather differently, in Finnish ‘ lastensuojelu’. In developing a cross-national research project on lastensuojelu/child protection practices in England and Finland, we found it necessary to go back a few steps, to address what might usually be considered as ‘background issues’. This article discusses the welfare state traditions in both countries, especially with respect to families and children, in order to contextualise the focus of ongoing qualitative research on micro comparisons. When comparing the mundane practices of child protection and the ways problems and clienthoods are constructed, as in this study, historical, social, cultural and linguistic issues matter. Indeed, very basic concepts such as ‘child protection’ and ‘child protection case’ become problematic in the comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares child adoption policies and practice in Great Britain and Finland. Both countries are states located in the European Union, yet both appear to have very distinct and divergent approaches to child adoption. Currently, in Britain, for example, child adoption is featured prominently across a range of professional, political and popular discourses. In Finland, however, in common with other countries in Scandinavia, child adoption and the permanent transfer of parental rights is not so focal a concern, or preoccupation. In Britain, despite a willingness to embrace the key European theme of "social exclusion," there is now a more dominant tendency to look westward when formulating social and welfare policy, instead of looking elsewhere in Europe. In Finland, as in Britain, there are very few "healthy" babies "available" for adoption. However, in some instances, the foster parents adopt a child or an adolescent who has been in long-term foster care. Approximately 1% of children and adolescents under 18 years live in foster care. Of these, approximately 48% are in family foster care, 40% are in institutional care, and 12% are in new types of family-like professional care.

This article discusses issues related to children's rights and children's welfare in Finland. An underlying principle of the Law on Security of Child Maintenance of 1977 is that society has a special obligation to support children in families with an absent parent. The legislation provides a limited financial guarantee from the state, which underwrites parental maintenance obligations. Supplementary child allowances have also been provided for single parent families. State agencies operate procedures for paternity investigation under the Law on Paternity of 1975 which, in principle, apply to every unmarried woman who gives birth to a child. Municipal Social Welfare Boards or authorized agencies have a remit under the Law on Adoption of 1979 to provide mandatory counseling of adoptive and natural parents. Salient features of the Nordic model of child law, incorporated in the Finnish system, indicate the influence and interventionist tendencies of social democracy and the strength of the welfare state in the Nordic region. Schemes for mandatory paternity investigation operate in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. All these jurisdictions limit a parent's power to impose physical punishment. Children's interests will be presented as a major consideration in policy development in any society. More fundamentally, the issue of population growth has allowed scope for the advancement of social democratic values in the Nordic countries.

Background Emotional and behavioral problems are common in young people and mental health problems are frequently intertwined with social problems. Both involuntary psychiatric treatment and taking into care may be used in order to manage youth behavioral problems. Compulsory interventions always endanger violating basic civil rights and therefore careful monitoring of them is warranted. The objective of this study was to evaluate trends in Finland in involuntary psychiatric inpatient treatment and taking into care 12 - 17-year-old adolescents from the year 1996 to the year 2003. Methods A nationally representative retrospective register study of the period 1996 - 2003 using the hospital discharge register and child welfare register in Finland. Results The results showed that both types of compulsory interventions increased vastly during the study period. The numbers of involuntary psychiatric treatment periods and child welfare placements of adolescents varied considerably in relation to each other, and across different regions of the country. Conclusion As there is no evidence of a vast increase in mental disorders or serious behavioral problems in young people, there is an obvious need for further research on reasons of the significant increase in the use of coercion and for the wide regional variation. Possible explanations discussed are different service structures and treatment cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]