At the Interface of Voluntary and Involuntary Care-Orders - Dynamics of Decision Making in Finland

This presentation explores the decision-making policy and practice of care-orders in Finland, where two decision-making bodies in child protection exist. Involuntary care orders are made by administrative courts and voluntary... [ view full abstract ]

This presentation explores the decision-making policy and practice of care-orders in Finland, where two decision-making bodies in child protection exist. Involuntary care orders are made by administrative courts and voluntary care orders by the municipal social work agencies. In practice, the majority of care orders are voluntary and thus made on the local level. Very little is known about the profiles of voluntary and involuntary care orders, and about the reasons for and dynamics of the different decision-making processes.

The data consists of document data from two Finnish cities in 2013. The local social workers gathered child welfare documents of all the children (n=37) that were taken into out-of-home care during a 6-8 month period. A content and thematic analysis of the data revealed that the level of involuntariness and voluntariness varied from weak to strong. Different cases were analyzed in relation to the children’s age and sex, psycho-social problems, length of the time in child welfare, and intensity of the child welfare services. The relation between these factors and the level of voluntariness / involuntariness was not clear. Instead, emotional and supportive measures were found to be significant. These results will be compared with interviews gathered from social workers, and from children that have been taken into care. With this triangular data and analysis, the dynamics of the different decision-making-processes can be thoroughly discussed.

This study demonstrates, how interwoven the social and legal elements are in the Finnish decision-making-system, which enables care-orders in conflicting and contradictory situations. It highlights the significance of emotional elements that challenge both the social work agencies and the Administrative Courts. The analysis also brings up challenging questions of ethics and power.

This presentation is part of symposium "Children entering public care on a voluntary or compulsory basis" (ID 260)