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Fri, 25 Apr, 2014 12:05:18 AM Majority of children are in good condition ‘Children inequality has grown over 30 years’ FTimes-STT Report, April 25  File picture of children playing in a Daycare park. Photo – Str / Lehtikuva. Although most children in the country are in a good condition, those who need assistance very often remain unattended by the authorities concerned for a long time, observes Maria Kaisa Aula, the outgoing Ombudsman for Children.
The ombudsman’s review is detailed in her final yearbook, which focuses on children’s wellbeing and offers recommendations for the decision-makers.
The yearbook will be handed to Minister of Health and Social Services Susanna Huovinen at a seminar in Helsinki today.
It says the services are scattered and preventive assistance has been tightened further.
The ombudsman says despite the good condition of majority of children in the country, the problems faced by suffering ones pile up and become more critical.
According to Aula’s assessment, the children and families in need of support do not get help in time.
Besides, she says, homecare-based services have collapsed over the last 20 years and life management services have become limited.
In particular, the number of 13 plus placed in custody has multiplied in the 2000s.
File picture of Ombudsman for Children, Maria Kaisa Aula. Photo – Str / Lehtikuva. According to Aula, families don’t receive adequate support before the children reach puberty.
On the other hand, the support network for families with children thin out even more at the onset of adolescence.
Growing in custody, according to Aula, has contributed to a decline in mental health services.
The ombudsman points out that in some cases mental health problems are treated in custody, which is not the right solution.
She says children’s wellbeing is of paramount importance and advises parents to seek help more quickly.
Esa Iivonen, a lawyer and a children affair expert from The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, said children inequality has grown over the last 30 years.
“Everyone was in the same boat in the 1980s. Now there are many people in the successful speedboat, but more people in the leaky rowing boat than in the past,” observes Iivonen.
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