In Sweden, more and more young people who have moved to the country have been left alone without support and help.
Gang crime and street gangs are a hot topic in the speeches of politicians and the media. For a young person, a gang can be the only community where he is accepted and seen. There is a lot of talk in the public about tough measures and tightening immigration policy, so that we won’t soon be in the same situation as Sweden is now. Soft means have also been brought up.
We visited Mötesplats Otto in Malmö, which for ten years has been working as a target group for young people who came to the country as minors and are now in the process of becoming independent. We heard some disturbing news. After 2015, immigration and integration measures have been tightened in Sweden. Adult support corresponding to the aftercare of those who came without a guardian has been stopped, meaning that a young person who came to the country alone as a minor does not receive social support after turning 18.
This decision has caused an increasing number of young people who immigrated to the country to be left alone without support and help, and a large number of young adults who came to Sweden alone have become homeless. At the same time, serious drug use has also increased.
in Finland the government proposes lowering the age limit for aftercare according to both the Child Protection Act and the Integration Act, and other restrictions on integration measures. We are concerned about whether these changes will have the same effect in Finland as in Sweden. Will substance use, homelessness and other problems start to appear more than now?
If we want to prevent such a development, we should not tighten integration measures but invest in soft, preventive measures now, before it is too late.
Safe ones communities can act as soft and preventive measures against gangs. Such are low-threshold meeting places, such as Olohuone in Helsinki. Olohuone is for unaccompanied young people aged 18–25 who came to Finland as asylum seekers. The living room is above all a community where the young person can come as they are. The young person’s thoughts and needs are listened to and he is offered support for the things he needs it for. If we are unable to offer support ourselves, we direct the young person to the right place.
The living room responds to the need to belong to something, to meet both peers and Finns, who are involved as volunteers. The living room also promotes integration: the young person gets to use the Finnish language and gets support, for example, with homework that he has to do in Finnish. At the same time, the young person gets information about society through taking care of things together as well as through trips and getting to know other activities.
One of Olohuone’s young people once said that if it wasn’t for this place, there would surely be some worse place where the young people would go.
Kaisa Eichhorn
project manager, Olohuone
Deaconess institution
Laura Lempinen
project manager, youth program
Deaconess institution
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