Authorities failed to protect a child who died in the Latokartano tragedy. According to the Ombudsman for Children, no lessons have been learned from previous sad cases.
Helsinki An elementary school child died in a suspected family death at Latokartano. The case shows that the long-required improvements in child protection have not been achieved, experts say.
Helsinki police suspect the mother of killing her school-age child and then committing suicide. According to neighbors interviewed by HS, the family would have been a client of child welfare. HS has not received any confirmed information.
Read more: The mother of Latokartano’s family tragedy was a familiar figure in the neighborhood – “She sat and watched the passers-by”
Read more: State of mind surveys completed: Those accused of Koskela’s murder were in full understanding – Defense demands milder punishment for publicity
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the state and resources of child protection, both after the Koskela homicide and the murder of an 8-year-old girl in 2012. The child had been the subject of several child welfare reports and the family had been a child welfare client for a long time.
A year ago, the Helsinki Audit Board highlighted the problems of child protection in its evaluation report and demanded that the city provide sufficient competent staff.
Read more: Recent report: Helsinki has not addressed enough child protection issues and juvenile delinquency
Helsinki’s child protection resources are reasonably good, says the director of child protection Saila Nummikoski.
“Currently, the social worker in charge of a child’s responsibilities is responsible for an average of 28 children,” says Nummikoski.
With the minimum dimension of social work in child protection that came into force in January, one social worker in charge of a child’s affairs may have a maximum of 35 children as clients. From 2024, the maximum number of customers is 30.
According to Nummikoski, about 50 new employees have also been hired to cancel the care and service debt caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In Latokartano the neighbors of the resident family repeatedly told HS that the police had visited the family apartment.
Read more: The mother of Latokartano’s family tragedy was a familiar figure in the neighborhood – “She sat and watched the passers-by”
According to Nummikoski, the flow of information between police, child protection and other authorities has improved over the past ten years.
“Staff have been trained for multidisciplinary work.”
Nummikoski does not take a position on an individual case, but talks on a general level about how to deal with a child who is already a customer of child protection.
“The premise is that if a child protection notice is received, social workers will immediately assess whether there is a need for urgent action. If necessary, an urgent investment or a home visit is made, for example, ”says Nummikoski.
For example, a suspicion of violence against a child is something that needs to be addressed urgently.
“If the matter is not considered urgent by the social worker, the social worker will assess whether it will cause changes to the client plan of the child protection client. It can mean meeting a family, wondering if there is a need for some support, a new service or if there is a need for care. ”
According to neighbors interviewed by HS, the family child was repeatedly taken away from home for a short time but was soon returned.
Nummikoski commented on the matter at a general level.
“On a general level, I can say that child protection meets children and families on many different issues. It could be, for example, that the child is taken to a camp or that the child goes to a support family for the weekend. Or it could be a placed child coming home for the weekend. ”
According to Nummikoski, this can also be a short outpatient investment or an urgent investment.
“But it’s very rare for them to be that short. It is exceptional, but possible, ”says Nummikoski.
“There is a big range in the length of urgent investments, but two months is such a normal time. About half of urgently placed children are taken into custody and continue in long-term foster care. Some, on the other hand, will return home after the emergency placement period and will be supported by outpatient support measures. ”
Ombudsman for Children Elina Pekkarinen considers the general state of child protection to be much darker.
He does not comment on the Latokartano case, but comments on the state of child protection in general.
“We have not learned from the serious cases of domestic violence we have here in Finland all the time,” he says.
Pekkarinen highlights three reports published by various ministries in 2012 and 2013, which made recommendations for improving the state of child protection.
“I think the big problem is that not a small part of the recommendations made in these reports have been implemented,” says Pekkarinen.
According to Pekkarinen, the number of child protection customers is constantly growing.
“The amount of work available per child is reduced and there is no time to do multi-professional work,” he says.
Another problem is that there is not enough cooperation between different actors in the field of child protection.
Services also poorly identify violence against children. It typically occurs only in the context of primary care or specialist care.
“Child protection is not enough on its own. There should be co-operation with schools, counseling centers, adult services, etc. ”
There is also a specialist from the Finnish Federation for Child Welfare along the same lines Annukka Paasivirta.
“Is protecting children a common task?” The pass current asks.
“From the perspective of child protection professionals, attention to children in adult services, such as substance abuse or mental health services, is insufficient. It may go unnoticed that there are even children in the family. There are major shortcomings in the system in taking into account the child-specific perspective in services. ”
#Crimes #child #fell #victim #family #tragedy #Ombudsman #Children #lessons #learned
