Child welfare
Quality report of the OSF publication series
Relevance of statistical data
The Statistical Report presents data on children and young
people placed outside the home and in community child welfare
interventions. Statistics on children and young people placed
outside the home are drawn up on the basis of the Register of Child
Welfare. The data entered in the Register of Child Welfare are
annually received from the municipalities as person-level data. The
statistics comprise data on children and young people placed
outside the home with support in community care, as emergency
placement, or because the child or young person has been taken into
care or is in need of after-care. The statistics also contain data
on placement settings and durations.
The data for the statistics on community-based child welfare
operations are collected from the municipalities. The data
collection form requests data on the number of clients, children
and young people (by age group) at different stages of the
community-based child-welfare intervention process.
The Child Welfare statistics are published once a year in the
form of a Statistical Report.
The concepts, definitions and symbols used in the statistics are
described at the end of the report.
The Statistical Report aims to provide information on children
and young people placed outside the home to administrators,
municipalities, researchers and students and any others in need of
such information.
The collection of data is based on the Act on the National
Institute for Health and Welfare (668/2008) and the Act on the
Statistical Service of the National Research and Development Centre
for Welfare and Health (409/2001).
Description of methods used in statistical research
Data on children and young people placed outside the home are
collected annually from all municipalities in Finland. Each year,
the municipalities are sent a data request form to be completed
within due time. The data are given with personal identity codes.
The largest municipalities extract the data electronically from
their own data systems in accordance with the data record
description requested by THL. The remaining municipalities update
the paper-form extract from the data record they receive from THL
by recording any changes and additions. The data record extract is
returned to THL, where it is used to update the database.
If a municipality fails to respond within due time, it will
receive a reminder. The statistics are not compiled until the
necessary data have been obtained from all municipalities. The
statistics almost invariably have a coverage of 100 per cent.
Correctness and accuracy of data
Data on the number of clients in community-based child welfare
interventions were received from all of Finland's 342
municipalities. According to information received by THL, 12 of
these municipalities had no clients in community-based child
welfare interventions in 2010. Some municipalities were unable to
supply all the data requested. The provision of data on new and
revised client plans according to age group proved particularly
difficult, and for this reason, all the data requested on the
collection form are not included in the report.
The municipalities were able to supply the data on the number of
clients in community-based child welfare interventions for the
Statistical Report. Some municipalities were unable to supply all
the data requested. The quality of data submitted to the register
varied somewhat. and for this reason, all the data requested on the
collection form are not included in the report. If a child or a
young person has been placed outside the home by more than one
municipality during the year, the placement data to be published
are based on the latest municipality of placement. Similarly, if a
child or a young person has been placed outside the home on
different grounds and/or in more than one placement setting during
the year, the placement data to be published are based on the
latest placement decision. The data are updated and corrected
retrospectively each year on the basis of the data on changes
submitted by the municipalities. This means that the annual time
series data will also be changed and updated.
Timeliness and promptness of published data
The Child Welfare statistics are produced by THL annually. The
aim is to publish the data in June but publication was delayed
until October this year due to certain technical difficulties.
Accessibility and transparency/clarity of data
The Statistical Report compiled and updated on the basis of the
Register of Child Welfare is available on the THL website at
http://www.thl.fi/en/statistics/childwelfare
Child welfare data are also available on the SOTKAnet web
service, available at
www.sotkanet.fi Child welfare
indicators can be retrieved using the keyword child
welfare.
Up-to-date information on child welfare issues can also be found
in the eHandbook for Child Welfare at
www.sosiaaliportti.fi.
The municipal social welfare offices that provide data for the
statistics receive an e-mail message on the release of updated
child welfare data.
Comparability of statistical data
The Child Welfare statistics have been compiled and processed by
THL (STAKES until 31 Dec 2008) since 1991. Comparable time series
of data are available from that year. Until 2007, no changes were
made in the concepts and definitions. The new Child Welfare Act
changed the child welfare statistics The new Child Welfare Act
entered into force on 1 January 2008. The new Act brought with it
changes in the data content of the national child welfare
statistics. The new statistical contents were planned and decided
by a working group of representatives from the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Health, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional
Authorities, the Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare in Southern
Finland, the City of Helsinki, the City of Vantaa, and STAKES (now
THL). As regards the Register of Child Welfare, the changes mainly
concerned the data on placement. As for community-based child
welfare interventions, the statistics were completely revised.
As regards the Register of Child Welfare, there were a few
specific changes; taking into care with an emergency care order is
now emergency placement. The statistics on placement settings for
children and young people were also changed to some degree.
The introduction of the term emergency placement (which replaced
taking into care with an emergency care order in the new Child
Welfare Act) does not affect the national statistics. Taking into
care with an emergency care order (now: emergency placement) refers
to a forceful intervention in cases where the child is in immediate
danger or otherwise in need of urgent placement or substitute care.
Accordingly, as of the 2008 statistics, taking into care with an
emergency care order is referred to as emergency placement.
The changes also concerned the data on placement settings as of
2008. The so-called old data on placement settings have been
translated into new data to produce comparable time series. The
placement setting information is available from the child welfare
form.
Section 32 of the new Child Welfare Act requires that the
network of people close to the child is charted. Before a child is
placed outside the home, it is necessary to investigate what
opportunities there are for the child to live with relatives or
with other persons close to the child. In the statistics, this
change is seen in that foster care includes not only foster
families but also relatives or other kin .
Professional family homes were separated from institutional care
in the statistics as of 2008. For the purposes of the statistics,
care in professional family homes is provided by units licensed
either as family homes or as child welfare institutions. Care in
professional family homes includes professional family homes,
family group homes or the like, that is, the type of placement used
previously in the statistics.
Both reform schools and institutions for people with
intellectual disabilities have been kept as separate units in
residential care in child welfare. Institutions for substance
abusers is a new, separate statistical unit. As of 2008, children's
homes, special-needs children's homes and receiving homes are
grouped under the collective term 'child welfare institution'. As a
placement setting, a family rehabilitation unit includes placements
in mother-and-baby homes and shelters for battered family members
as well as units where children are placed together with their
parents/parent or family.
More detailed data on clients in community-based child welfare
interventions is now collected Since 2008, the national statistics
also include data on the number of child welfare notifications. The
new Child Welfare Act provides that municipalities must keep a
register of child-welfare notifications. The register improves
THL's access to reliable data. In addition to the number of child
welfare notifications, the data to be collected cover the number of
children (by age group) who have been subject to such a
notification.
The national statistics on community-based child welfare
interventions include data on the number of clients, children and
young people (by age group) at different stages of the
community-based child-welfare intervention process. The data help
monitor how the new practices required in the Child Welfare Act are
being implemented in municipalities.
This Statistical Report is based on the child welfare data for
the statistical year 2010 provided by the municipalities to THL.
Previous child welfare data have been checked and updated according
to corrections delivered by the municipalities.
The collection of child welfare data and the compilation of
child welfare statistics were started by STAKES (now THL) in
1991.
Clarity and consistency
The Statistical Report presents nationwide data on children and
young people placed outside the home and the number of clients in
community-based child welfare interventions.
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