Part of young people in child welfare after-care and minors who have entered Finland without a guardian are at heightened risk of exclusion
THL has published a report on the support and services for youth who are in child welfare after-care and minors who have entered the country without a guardian. The report found that some young people on the verge of adulthood have a special risk of social exclusion. According to the report, there was significant regional variation in the organisation and implementation of support and services. The report offers development proposals for wellbeing services counties to establish a functional assistance system.
A total of 95 local government directors responsible for child welfare after-care responded to the national municipal survey on after-care measures in child welfare. A total of 24 local integration managers responded to the national survey concerning people who had entered Finland as unaccompanied minors. In addition, interviews were conducted with more than 50 professionals from municipalities and organisations alongside about twenty young people.
Exclusion from education and work increases the risk of social exclusion
There are about 8,300 young people in child welfare after-care in Finland. According to the report, as much as 40 per cent of young people in child welfare after-care were not in employment, education or military service in 2021. Homelessness was experienced by 2.5% of young people in child welfare after-care.
There are a total of approximately 2,500 to 4,500 people who have arrived in Finland as unaccompanied minors. Last year, 8% of these young people were not in employment, education or military service, and 2% of them were homeless.
In total, these two groups encompass up to 3,500 young people who are not in employment or education. Many young people have to start living independently without sufficient skills in managing everyday life, finances and housing.
“It is too often that we are unable to coordinate services so that young people can get the substance abuse and mental health services they need, for example. Also, there often isn’t robust enough support for transitioning into and becoming established in studies or work, leading to young people dropping out”, says Project Manager Tanja Hirschovits-Gerz from THL.
Support and services not available equally
Support and services are also not available equally between regions. There are currently no criteria for the minimum level of support, which means that support for young people may be completely inadequate due to a shortage of employee resources, for example.
The observed need to develop child welfare after-care services particularly concerns the provision of financial support to young people. Currently, practices vary greatly by municipality of residence, placing young people in an unequal position.
On the other hand, under the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration, young people who have arrived in Finland as unaccompanied minors do not have a statutory right to receive support measures. As a result, support is only available in some municipalities, and having access to support is dependent on the decisions of individual employees.
In addition, information on young people and services gets accumulated poorly, which makes it difficult to manage information and to direct resources in regions.
“As the structures of the wellbeing services counties start to form, we can create clear and equal structures for providing support and services for these young people. With this report, we have collected key development needs for the next few years”, says Project Coordinator Niina Weckroth from THL.
The report was done as part of the Towards adulthood together – Forward in Life project funded by the European Social Fund. Views on the functionality of the services were collected in cooperation with the Deaconess Institute, SONet BOTNIA and Pesäpuu ry by means of municipal surveys, interviews with young people and by collating previously collected information.
Welcome to the ‘A good start to adulthood’ webinar on 14 March 2022 from 13:00 to 15:00
The webinar will present the key findings and development measures of the report. The webinar will also serve as the publishing event of a policy recommendation by the Central Union for Child Welfare and a guide by experts of the experience on the development of after-care.
Sign up for the webinar or order materials here (in Finnish)
Further information:
Towards adulthood together – Forward in Life projectLink to an external websiteAvautuu uudessa välilehdessä (in Finnish)
Tanja Hirschovits-Gerz
Project Manager
THL
tel. +358 29 524 7954
firstname.lastname@thl.fi
Niina Weckroth
Project Coordinator
THL
tel. +358 29 524 7785
firstname.lastname@thl.fi
