Young | Kela’s savings affect children’s rehabilitation: Not everyone will receive support in the future, even if they meet the conditions

For example Children and young people with symptoms of ADHD may soon be without rehabilitation because Kela will have to go through austerity measures.

The demand for rehabilitation services for children and young people suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders is so great that Kela will not be able to replace them for many in the future.

Therefore, some families receive a rejection decision on their application, even if they meet Kela’s requirements. Others are granted a shorter period of rehabilitation than applied for.

Typical diagnoses belonging to this group are adhd and add, autism spectrum disorders, developmental language disorder and Tourette’s syndrome.

The reason for Kela’s actions is a lack of money: Discretionary rehabilitation is financed from the funds allocated annually by the parliament. The costs of rehabilitation have increased so much that Kela has to look for savings.

“This ensures that the funds allocated by the parliament are sufficient to organize and compensate for rehabilitation in the coming years,” Kela’s press release states.

In 2022, the costs of discretionary rehabilitation were around 70 million euros and in 2023 around 79 million euros.

Direction is now practically the opposite of what was intended during this reign. Petteri Orpon In the (kok) government program, it was this group of children and young people who were promised quick help.

“According to the government program, investments are made in rehabilitation and rehabilitation services for neuropsychological disorders of children and young people with a fixed-term program through Kela’s discretionary rehabilitation. 25 million euros will be used for the program, which will secure rehabilitation services at the current level until 2027”, answered Minister of Social Affairs and Health Kaisa Juuso (ps) in April to the relevant one to a written question.

If families do not get timely support for a child’s or young person’s symptoms, it sometimes shows up later in, for example, learning difficulties or foster care.

Costs the increase is due to both the wild demand for rehabilitation services and the increase in the number of people who need them, says the designer Ville Räty From the reel.

According to him, Kela complements the services of welfare areas, which are organized for this target group in different areas at different levels.

For example, the proportions of children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD are According to the Institute of Health and Welfare increased in eight years by about three times for boys and more than five times for girls.

In 2022, 8.3 percent of boys and 3.3 percent of girls between the ages of 7 and 17 had been diagnosed with ADHD. According to preliminary data, the growth will continue.

Secondly Laku family rehabilitation and Oma väylä rehabilitation, which started in the 2020s, have proven to be more popular than expected.

“The need is huge,” says Räty.

In Laku family rehabilitation, we look for ways to make it easier for a particular child or young person to survive in everyday situations. Rehabilitation is individually tailored, and professionals typically come to the family’s home, daycare center and school to accompany them in everyday situations.

Oma väylä rehabilitation offers youth and young adults aged 16–29 reinforcement of skills related to studying and working life. Rehabilitation also trains in social skills and managing everyday life. It includes individual discussions and peer support.

According to Rädy, the courses aimed at children on the ADHD and autism spectrum are also very popular.