ISW: Arabia/ToukolaFocus group:Children & Families

Group: Alex, Binod, Hanna, Joey, Maarit, Santosh & Shobhana

Municipal (public) Services for Families With Children in Helsinki

Families and children

Maternity and child

health guidance

*link*

School and student

health care*link*

Home help and work

with families*link*

Assessment and

therapeutic services

*link*

Child welfare*link*

Family law services

*link*

Family counselling

*link*

Daycare and Preschool Options in Helsinki

Families with children 0-6 years

Daycare in municipal centres

*link*

Daycare in private centers*link*

Language oriented private

daycare*link*

Family daycare-

small groups in a home-

like environment

*link*

Homecare or hiring a

nanny in the family’s home*link*

Preschool*link*

PlaygroundsPlaygroups

*link*

Daycare and Preschool Centres - Arabia/Toukola

Municipal daycare center and preschool

Floora*link*

Municipal daycare center and preschool

Aalto*link*

Municipal daycare center and preschool

Arabia*link*

Municipal daycare center and preschool

Loiske*link*

Municipal daycare center and preschool

Koivikko*link*

Municipal daycare center Marjala

*link*

Municipal daycare center and preschool

Nurmikko*link*

Municipal (svenskspråkig)

daycare center Sesam*link*

Private daycare center Mörrintupa

*link*

Private daycare center Arabianhelmi

*link*

Services for Families and Children – Private sector

Music for children in

Arabia/Toukolahttp://www.paavalinmusiikkikoulu.fi/

Private clubs/groups subsidized with service voucher in Helsinki

http://www.hel.fi/www/Helsinki/en/day-care-education/play/supported/application-and-service-voucher/private-clubs

http://toninkerhot.yhteystietopalvelu.com/index.php?page=1http://www.muusikameri.fi/

Services for Families and Children - Third sector

The Family Federationhttp://www.vaestoliitto.fi/in_english/

http://www.vaestoliitto.fi/in_english/family_services/http://www.vaestoliitto.fi/in_english/family_services/for-couples

/

Mannerheim League for Child Welfarehttp://www.mll.fi/en/

Arabia/Toukola local association (Finnish) https://mllarabianranta.wordpress.com/MLL Arabianranta on facebook (Finnish)

https://www.facebook.com/MLLArabianranta/

Churchhttps://evl.fi/EVLen.nsf/Documents/E93E9D2F3B1D6841C2257C2B0034C238?OpenDocument&lang=ENhttps://www.helsinginseurakunnat.fi/seurakunnat/paavali/toiminta/juniorityo7-14-vuotiaat_0.html

Helsinki Pop Jazz Conservatoryhttp://www.popjazz.fi/in-english/

http://www.popjazz.fi/hae-opiskelemaan/musiikkileikkikoulu/

Main principles of child welfare in Finland (Child Welfare Act: Chapter 1, Section 4)• to promote the child’s development and well-being• to support parents and other custodians in the child’s upbringing

and care• to prevent problems and intervene when necessaryhttp://childprotectionresource.online/child-protection-in-finland/Accessed on: 17/10/2016

Social work continues to answer the call of helping the most vulnerable people in society by acting as a safety net to those who otherwise would suffer significant harm. Although social workers today would not regard themselves as agents of morality, in many respect their tasks and priorities are guided by the legal mandate, which is in effect the moral framework that society has defined for them.

Akhtar, 2013, p. 40

The Interviews

• Social Advisor, Family Unit, Helsinki Municipality, Arabia/Toukola • Kindergarten Teacher • School Psychologist (children)• Managing Director of Kotisisar

Descriptions of Work & Professional Roles• Focusing on collective & individual care (Psychologist)• Co-operation skills are the core of social work. I need to come to terms with

our customers and partners. I can, for example, give advice for babies’ sleeping problems and difficulties with “terrible twos”, but if parent for some reason does not want to come along to make a change in one’s behavior, there is nothing I can do. When necessary, I can guide the parent to other services (for example services for mental health, parents’ relationship, family counselling) but if the parent does not want to go, I can’t force him/her. (Social Advisor)

• Helping the service user in the personal level: providing child care, helping with household chores (Kotisisar Manager)

• I take care of 3-4 years old children. My primarily role is to create caring, fulfilled and safe environment for the children where they learn through play. The enjoyable aspect of my work is being able to be creative, active and play along with the kids (Kindergarten Teacher)

Independence & Co-operation at Work• I have meetings with teachers about pedagogy, working at 4 different

schools (a different one every day), cooperation with teachers, the curator, for students that need special support, and groups (Psychologist)

• Very independent, working with clients by oneself. A possibility to work in pairs with the most challenging families. Co-operation with colleagues or co-operatives varies from 0 meetings to 6 or 7. Service users have contacts to other social service providers like family councelling, home service, financial support, therapeutical work with families with a babies and the psychiatric hospital. With the service user’s permission we are allowed to contact those other service providers as well (Social Advisor)

Independence, continued

• Working independently as a service provider with the clients, but I may work in co-operation with public sectors and 3rd sector if necessary (with 3rd sector they work in indirect co-operation.) (Kotisisar Manager)

• We are a team of 3 kindergarten teachers: we are inclined to make joint decisions. However we have our own weeks where we have full independence to plan curriculum for the whole week. I would say 50/50 on teamwork and on independence. We adhere to general rules for us and for the children. We simply can’t have independent rules from three different teachers for the children or even for us. (Kindergarten Teacher)

Working community

• There are three other social advisers in my closest working community. Two of us works always in the same area but depending on the work situation we are allowed to help each other over the borders. In total there are 28 social advisors for the families with children in Helsinki area (Social Adviser)

• Cooperation with the service user in a daily basis to maintain the communication and make the work easier. (Kotisisar Manager)

• My main colleagues are 2, however we have total staffs of about 20 people (Kindergarten Teacher)

video

Service User Profiles• Children between the ages of 6-12 (School Psychologist)• From families expecting a baby to families with school children. Usually

families have a problem of some kind and therefore they are in a need for help. For example parents may have problem with mental health, like depression, a thing that makes everyday routines difficult. Tiredness among families with little babies and a need for support is one of the reasons to seek for help as well as problems with the parent’s relationship and difficulties with children at the age of the terrible twos (Social Advisor)

• Children from age 3-6 years, from different countries and ethnicities. In broad aspect their families are also our service users (Kindergarten Teacher)

Time Spent with Service Users

• Often meet with students 4 or 5 times, sometimes much more or even the whole year (School Psychologist)

• Varies: I may see some families only 1-2 times and with some other families I may work for many years. The average working period is couple of months. The length is often dependent on the reason why families were in a need for help (Social Advisor)

• Depends on the child on a daily basis, and how long s/he will be with us, max. 3 years. (Kindergarten Teacher)

The Objective of Work• Often focus on the clients’ wellbeing (Psychologist)• To empower the service users in a way that they don’t need help

(making service user independent) in future. (Kotisisar) • The most important thing in my work is a genuine encounter and

concern for people and their affairs. I can influence only to things that service user wants to come along and participate. (Social Advisor)

• The kids are left in our care with trust therefore ensuring their safety is very important. Each child is different therefore their needs separate from one another. It is essential to understand individual needs of the children and support them. (Kindergarten Teacher)

Means of Intervention• I’ve worked for many years in child welfare. Due to that I am very

well networked: I know people from financial support, family counselling, therapeutic work with babies and children’s daycare. It is easy for me to get advice from these sources and that helps me with my customer’s affairs. (Social Advisor)

• Student meetings, possibility to use psychological measures or tests, parent meetings, documenting meetings (Psychologist)

• Planning age appropriate curriculum where the children grow and learn psychological, physical, linguistic and social skills are major aspects of my work. (Kindergarten Teacher)

What Do the Social Workers Hope to Achieve Through Their Work?

• Ensuring children’s happiness, sound health and safety in daycare and at home (Kindergarten Teacher)

• My Motto is: Start from where the person is, not from where You hope or assume they are (Social Advisor)

• Peace in the family which promotes the well being and proper growth of the child. (Kotisisar Manager)

Experts (in social work) had specific characteristcs. They had a sound understanding of legislation, policy and procedures, as one would expect but, somehow, they practiced in a way that was more than simply the sum of these skills. They worked flexibly and intuitively; constantly expanding their pool of knowledge and experience and using this to go and develop their own theories about their work.

Akhtar, 2013, p. 64

Describing a Good Day at Work• Meetings with teachers and other co-workers, meeting students (usually 3

or 4 everyday), documenting the meetings, parental contact (close working partner), writing reports based on tests/meetings. (School Psychologist)

• A good day is when learning that a child who had major issues few months’ back shows signs of improvement. A good day is a day when families appreciate your work. A good day can also be when a child gives you a card that she took sometime to draw (Kindergarten Teacher)

• For example, today I have managed to solve customer's affairs with many cooperation partners on the phone (child welfare, financial support, congregation, home service). In a good working day, in a meeting with my customer, my customer realizes something that helps him/her to proceed in solving his/her problem (Social Advisor)

What Kind of Service Users Are the Nicest to Work with?

• In context of kind of families that I personally like are the ones who are cooperative with the daycare staff (Kindergarten Teacher)

• Those who have come to us from their own will and they have motivation also to help themselves (Social Advisor)

What Kind of Positive Feedback Have They Received?

• I have been given feedbacks from my boss that I have been able to have warm relationships with children, families and my colleagues (Kindergarten Teacher)

• Customers have given me feedback that I have helped them with things that they have not been able to solve themselves. The have also told me that I am an easy person to discuss and contact (Social Advisor)

The Biggest Learning Moments

• If you open yourself up to learn, you learn everyday from small incidents, from your colleagues, from yourself. But if you have an attitude that you know everything then you really are your own hurdle to go further in life.

• You don’t have to know everything• I learned to be patient, to be kind.

• It is okay to ask questions• Don’t judge and assume about the service user before

meeting them

Ethical issues

Barnskyddslagen / Child Protection Act clarity issue: where is the line when it comes to issues. For example parents drinking (amounts, frequency) , and when one should to make contact with authorities Psychologist)

Bureacracy and Legislation

• Helsinki city is reorganizing psychological care for students

• There is likely to be changes on the organizational or administrative level which could affect the work

• Elevvårdslagen—Student care law Issue: it’s not always easy to read or apply because it’s very broad and not specific (Psychologist)

What Advice Do theProfessionals Give to Students?

• If you want to face a person, always start in the encounter, not in the task. • Be interested in the customer. Do not be a Know-it-all, do not push advice

if it is not asked.• Finnish language is very much important, don’t Judge or assume, listen,

help• Be patient and listen, read between the lines - this is a piece of an advice

that I nowadays give also to myself. • Leave to the customer one’s own responsibility. Work, but also have trust

into person’s own strength.

Advice, continued

• I often ask the service user this question: Do you have any idea of the way this problem could be solved? The service user often has some kind of an idea. For a long time I thought that I have to be the one to be able solve the problems on behalf of the service user. That is something that I have tried to get rid of because it is very exhausting and frustrating.

• Be merciful to yourself: Everyone can not helped or the service may not be needed just now.

• Every encounter with service users will produce more and more know-how to you and develop your workmanship.

Advice, continued

• Make it a point to learn Finnish language if you want to work in Finland.• You have to be prepared to face families who can be rude and

demanding in one hand and in another hand there are helpless families that you want to do so much but you cannot.

• You have to be able to be a strong person to be able to stand for yourself if you want to be taken seriously, and because you will come face to face with hard life situations of some families and it can wear you out.

• As a person working in a social field you need to have a sense of empathy but also learning to find a boundary where you are able to leave work at work.

A Brighter Future in Social Work• Maybe increase kindergarten teachers’ salaries• More people should have support families and those support

families were conjured from somewhere :)• More consideration in the customer charges => services could

be very affordable/free of charge to families in difficult situations.

• There would couples therapy more easily and it would last longer. No queues to family counselling.

• When needed, people could have an appointment with the family law services earlier.

• People could have the help they need much faster and that it wouldn’t be very expensive

Synthesis from Our Group

• Social workers still need more resources.• There are very skilled and motivated people working with families.• There are both opportunities and challenges in the field.• Broad range of approaches exists in the field.• The services are spread out and somewhat difficult to find.• Children and families are extensively taken care of by the three sectors

combined. No one should fall under the safety net. • Social workers are committed to connecting with and helping people

while taking into consideration the person’s own will, situation, personality and pace.

Learning PointsWe learned:

• to use our personal strengths, interests and connections• to trust one another• to use different methods to communicate• to take responsibility for ourselves in the end• the initial information and brief was perceived differently• it is a plain fact that organising times to meet is challenging• contacting organisations and getting interviews is a challenge• groupworking is a skill – but also enjoyable

BibliographyAkhtar, F. (2013). Mastering Social Work Values and Ethics.Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Davies, M. (Ed.) (2008). The Blackwell Companion to Social Work. 3rd. Edition. Blackwell Publishing.

Gray, M. & Webb, S. (Ed.) (2010). Ethics and Value Perspectives in Social Work. Palgrave Macmillan.

http://childprotectionresource.online/child-protection-in-finland/Accessed on: 17/10/2016

http://stm.fi/en/article/-/asset_publisher/lastensuojelun-periaatteet- suomessaAccessed on: 17/10/2016

Ethical dilemmas discussionWe have only one emergency appointment at the family social centre before the summer holiday. Who would you give it to?

A. A teenager suddenly starts using heavy drugs.

B. Poor single parent who has absolutely no means to support her family, kids 6 and 8

C. Divorce & depression of parent of 3 kids,1,2 and 5 years. One parent has full custody, and has a lot of problems but doesn’t let the other see the children.

D. One parent is mentally abusing the other parent, they have a child aged 12 who is showing signs of great stress and mental disturbance

E. Emotionally abandoned one-year-old baby, one parent has no approach to parenthood and has no real relationship with the child, the other suffers severely