Social innovations in child welfare coordination project (SOILA) accelerates the piloting, embedding, and scaling of social innovations in child welfare at the national level, with the aim of reforming child protection and improving services in a systematic way.
The task of SOILA is to provide national-level support to project activities funded under the European Social Fund Plus programme Safety nets for young people's futures (TL 5, Specific Objective 5.1).
Together, the SOILA and the regional projects form a comprehensive development framework that, by the end of the programme period, will have renewed Finnish child protection to be more effective and socially and economically sustainable.
Goals
The goal of SOILA is to strenghten competence in social innovations and joint learning in order to accelerate systemic change in child protection.
The overall aim of the "Safety nets for young people's futures" programme is to strengthen the life situation and coping of children and young people who are clients of child protection services, including placed children and youn people, during open care, substitute care, and aftercare.
The aim is to develop support measures that are based on the needs of children and young people and easily accessible locally within multi-actor networks together with children and young people, as well as to innovatively complement existing support.
The objective is to reform child protection innovatively to achieve four strategic objectives:
- Reducing the number of placements of children aged 12–17 by developing high-quality open care support measures and services.
- Supporting the whole family and especially parenting at all stages of substitute care.
- Reforming aftercare into multidisciplinary support for the transition to adulthood.
- Developing and renewing systematic cooperation between child protection substitute care services and the rest of the service system.
Implementation
SOILA promotes the creation of social innovations and the achievement of systemic change by working in accordance with the innovation spiral. Within the project support provided, activities proceed from identifying needs to ideation, piloting, institutionalisation, and scaling towards systemic change.
Regional projects are offered a national joint learning framework and are supported in thematic learning networks, as well as coached in social innovations, participatory work, monitoring and evaluation, modelling of results, and communication and influence. Together, the regional projects scale solution ideas to be piloted in different parts of the country already during the project development phase.
Close cooperation is carried out with regional actors, stakeholders, and young people and families with lived experience. The renewal of child protection is supported by compiling knowledge, coordinating development work, and strengthening co-creation practices. In addition, shared understanding of the programme's objectives and impacts is promoted, and active communication is carried out on the achievement of the objectives of Safety nets for young people's futures.
As a result of the Safety nets for young people's futures project activities:
- Child protection is renewed regionally and nationally, and ideas are shared internationally.
- Reported information is produced nationally on innovative solutions in child protection.
- The participation of young people and their close networks is strengthened, and services become more child- and youth-oriented.
- Multidisciplinary cooperation and networking collaboration are strengthened.
- Ecosystems function for the benefit of children, young people, and families.
Funding
European Social Fund Plus, programming period 2021–2027.
Priority Axis 5, Finland of social Innovations, specific objective 5.1 Safety nets for young people's futures. The programme is part of the national Competent and renewing Finland 2021–2027 programme.
Partners
The implementers of the SOILA are the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), the Central Union for Child Welfare in Finland (LSKL), and Pesäpuu ry, in cooperation with partners.
The project bases its activities on co-creation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Centres for Vitality, the ESF+ funded regional Safety nets for young people's futures projects (specific objective 5.1) financed in the regions, and other stakeholders.
Contact details
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