There are serious concerns about the standard of local child welfare services in Finland, according to a recent survey. The survey, which was conducted by news publication YLE, shows that services are viewed as substandard, primarily because funding and the amount of qualified staff have not grown in accordance with the growing needs.
YLE questioned five Regional State Administrative Agencies about the child welfare services local governments provide. The general view was that, in certain areas of the country, response times when children are in need of help is too long.
Earlier in July, the Regional State Administrative Agency put the southwestern town of Salo on notice for legal violations regarding its child welfare services. The agency took the action after delays in handling cases and substandard levels of staff employed.
A number of municipalities that are suffering due to the economic downturn have had to endure child welfare spending cuts. Therefore, local governments have found it almost impossible to pay for the personnel with the qualifications required by law. This has resulted with some places having just one social worker looking after as many as 120 child welfare cases at once.
In 2013, the government has put an extra 140,000 euros towards educating social workers at Finland’s universities. However, many feel this outlay is not enough to solve the problem.
The Talentia Union of Professional Social Workers’ Development Chief Mervi Tolonen explained that most of the funds are going towards getting people who already have degrees in related subjects qualified enough to enter the field as quickly as possible. However, she noted that there are still 250 empty spots each year for students in the social welfare field.