Opinion|Reader’s opinion
The lives of too many young people are advancing in the midst of loneliness, insecurity and the confusion of everyday life.
Sodat have forever left children orphaned without the safety of their own parents. The war in Ukraine has only just begun, but many parents have been forced to the front and children have been left to wait for their parents to return. Not everyone’s parents return, and this changes children’s lives for the rest of their lives, leaving deep scars.
Although Time has passed since the war in Finland, many Finns still have personal experiences of being war children. Even during peace, many children have been placed outside the home for one reason or another. There are about 20,000 of them in Finland. Many children and young people also have to grow up without safe adult relationships. There are about 8,300 of them in childcare aftercare in Finland.
In recent years, Finland has provided asylum to a total of about 4,500 children who have entered the country as unaccompanied minors. These children often build their adulthood far from their loved ones, carrying with them traumatic experiences.
SuomI am prepared to provide humanitarian assistance and asylum to children and young people fleeing Ukraine, including possibly unaccompanied minors.
It is important to provide the safest possible support for children and young people from the outset and to ensure that relationships last for as long as possible. This will allow them to develop a stable everyday life and the confidence that life can bear during and after the crisis.
It is important that, in addition to material support, children and young people are supported by adults with a trauma-aware approach to make everyday life easier. It is important that children and young people are offered the rhythm of everyday life, access to kindergarten and school, and that parents are allowed to work and engage in society in a meaningful way.
Finland is currently negotiating conditions for asylum seekers, and the aim is to streamline and speed up asylum policy in order to reduce human suffering. Good. In addition to the work of the authorities, the organizations have become more active in providing support. For example, there is certainly a need for sponsor family activities again.
These my wishes, or rather my suggestions for providing support for children, young people and also adults, are based on the fresh Together to Adulthood – Our Life Forward (YEE) project (www.thl.fi/yee.) nationwide report. In 2021, it examined the current state of childcare aftercare and support and services for young adults who have entered the country unaccompanied as minors in Finland.
According to the study, young people all too often lack adequate support for independent daily living, study and financial management. The lives of too many young people are advancing in the midst of loneliness, insecurity and the confusion of everyday life. In Finland, up to 40 per cent of young people in aftercare are out of work, education and conscription. Loneliness, rootlessness and the experience of being outside Finnish society erode young adults who come to the country as minors without guardians.
Now that we are preparing for the new wave of refugees, it is important to learn what we already know about adult adults living in Finland without parents, their service needs and the development of services.
Tanja Hirschovits-Gerz
Project Manager, Together for Adulthood – Forward in Life (YEE) Project Department of Health and Welfare
Reader opinions are speeches written by HS readers, selected and delivered by HS’s editorial staff. You can leave a comment or read the principles of writing at www.hs.fi/kirjtamielipidekirjoitus/.
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