Ombudsman for Children in Finland

Press release 31.5.2010

Partners returned a positive opinion on the impacts of the first five-year term of the office of the Ombudsman for Children. Children's rights have entered the national agenda. The voice of children and young people has become stronger in public debate, and the perspective of children is better recognised in government. Closer co-operation of actors promoting the interests of children is likewise considered a good achievement. Representatives of various organisations and ministries evaluated the activities of the Ombudsman for Children in the recent yearbook.

Maria Kaisa Aula, who is soon due to end her first term of office, also feels that the work has been reasonably successful considering the resources available.

"The Ombudsman for Children influences attitudes and values, and highlights the opinions of children. There is considerable goodwill regarding children's issues in Finland. But the transition from goodwill to everyday action is up to decision-makers and adults," she points out.

The social demand for her function is indicated by the hundreds of annual contacts received directly from members of the public. These have provided material for the lobbying work, initiatives and statements of the Ombudsman. Surveys conducted among children are another important source of information. Reports on surveys carried out among school children as well as among Roma and Sami children have illuminated the child perspective for decision-makers.

The decisions of local authorities are crucial in mitigating the detrimental impacts of the recession. The Ombudsman for Children urges service developers to involve children and young people in planning and providing feedback.

"Services improve if children's priorities are ascertained. This does not require large sums of money so much as it requires changes in the attitudes of adults," Ms Aula points out.

Services for children, adolescents and families should be planned and managed as a coherent concept in both local and central government. Trying to address the everyday lives of children and families within the confines of current administrative sector boundaries is a poor fit. School, youth work, social welfare and health services should be made to function more effectively together for the benefit of children.

"What services and money mean from the perspective of children is the availability of relationships - in the best case, stable and reliable adults. We need more of them," Ms Aula stresses.

The Ombudsman for Children is required to provide the Government annually with a report on his/her activities and on the state of the rights and welfare of children and young people in Finland. The latest yearbook, Children's Rights on Finland's Agenda, is published in Finnish and Swedish in one volume. Topics in the book, which is available on the Ombudsman for Children's website www.lapsiasia.fi, include not only the five-year assessment but also mitigation of the detrimental impacts of the economic recession on children and the challenges in the everyday life of Roma children and children requiring special support.

The five-year term of the Ombudsman for Children will be honoured on 1 September 2010 at a seminar to be held in Jyväskylä under the theme ‘Children's Right to Upbringing'.

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Children's rights on Finland's agenda. Barns rättigheter upp på agendan i Finland. Lapsiasiavaltuutetun vuosikirja 2010. Lapsiasiavaltuutetun toimiston julkaisuja 2010:3.

To order the printed yearbook (in Finnish or Swedish), please contact:  lapsiasiavaltuutettu@stm.fi or +358 9 160 73986, Pirkko-Liisa Rautio, Department Secretary.

Additional information:
Ombudsman for Children
Maria Kaisa Aula
Tel. +358 50 530 9697
mariakaisa.aula@stm.fi

www.lapsiasia.fi, www.lastensivut.fi