The Family Federation of Finland

1
The Family Federation of Finland

• Mona Jonsson, Master of Social Services,
  Department Manager, Child Care Unit

2
Väestöliitto

• is a family organization working in the social
  and health sector
• provides services, carries out research,
  influences society
• has 29 member organizations
• has 150 employees and 100 child-minders
• has offices and clinics in Helsinki, Oulu, Turku
  and Tampere
• founded in 1941

3
Väestöliittos mission

• A healthy, safe and balanced life begins within
  the family and impacts the whole society.

4
Väestöliittos values

• Humanity
• Reliability
• Freedom from prejudice
• Capability to cooperate
• Justice

5
What we do

• Our studies and services give information about
  peoples everyday life which facilitates
  predicting the risks factors
• Influence decision-makers, society and public
  opinion
• Provide valued and reliable services and
  expertise
• International dimension

6
Strategy

• Väestöliitto supports family formation and having
  children, parenthood, and coping with everyday
  life as well as good couple relationships
• Väestöliitto strives to prevent the health risks
  and strengthen young peoples prerequisities for
  growth so that they would experience themselves
  and their bodies valuable

7

• Promotes tolerance and understanding of
  multiculturalism by providing family centered
  counselling
• Promotes sexual health and rights nationally and
  globally
• Treats infertility, provides sexual and couple
  therapy, child care service and genetic
  counselling

8
Activities

• Family policy
• support for families in everyday life
• parenthood
• couple relationship
• Sexual health and rights
• especially young people and men
• global dimension
• Research
• Medical services

9
Challenges

• to influence society towards a more family
  friendly atmosphere
• the prevention of impoverishment and
  marginalization
• to help families cope with their every day lives
• strong parenthood and presence
• cooperation

10
Challenges

• couple relationships stability, skills and
  easy-access services
• to improve young peoples sexual health and
  support their psycho-social well-being
• to enhance cooperation in the near-neighbouring
  areas
• secure the operational preconditions of Finnish
  NGOs

11
Child Care

• Service since 1989
• The Child Care supports families in the capital
  area
• Reasons for ordering support in the family
  illness, social support, disability, lack of
  resources
• Lately its more common for a mother to be at
  home during the carers working time support is
  though given for parenthood as well

12
Clients

• Families who order and pay themselves (subsidized
  fee)
• Social welfare offices from municipalities
• Employers who pay for the care of their employees
  sick child

13
Numbers in 2006

• The total number of service hours was 37 000
• There were 985 client families
• Families were visited 6 600 times 5,54
  hours/time
• There were 99 workers who took care of the
  children

14
Significant Developments

• Better Coping with Everyday Life project
  2007-2009
• drifting families and Coping of Daily Life
  with Sequence Map - method

15
Sequence

• PhD Pirjo Korvela made her research to find out
  what is actually relevant in everyday life of
  families. She found out the sequence structure of
  a day.

16
The four to six sequences of a day in dual-worker
or single-parent families
Seq. 6 Retiring for sleep
Seq. 5 Working, adults own time
Sequence 2 Coming back home and settling down
Sequence 3 Doing something together
Seq. 4 Putting children to bed
Sequence 1 The morning chores for leaving home
Night
Time at work and in day care
Early morning
Time
(Source Korvela, 2003)
17
Home as an activity (Korvela 2003)

• Home is made and constructed with the family
  members actions
• Other activity systems are also taking part of
  constructing the home

18
Drifting family excluded from the community (cf.
Korvela, 2003)
Instruments Reacting the object and situations
faced
Outcome Home drifting excluded from the community
Subject Family with children
Object surviving moment by moment
Division of labor Day-care-center takes care of
the children during daytime, help for
grandparent, friends, social workers, etc.
Rules Timetables of other aactivity systems,
like work, school, day-care-center
Community Social groups family members
are involved like hobbies, parish, friends,
relatives, earlier homes, etc.
19

• If the connections to other activity systems will
  cut or are cutted by the family itself, the
  family may start drifting and will easily exclude
  from the cummunity
• Trust on the community makes a protective cocoon
  (Giddens)

20
Sequence map

• A three-year-project for developing a new family
  work method (Funded by the Lottery Fund in
  2007-2009).
• Tool for reflecting not the problems but the
  present doings at home.
• Tool for developing more structured daily rhythm
  based on children basic needs.
• Transparent for family members and professionals.

21
Coping levels in daily life
Rigid, without flexibility
Running, smooth daily life
Drifting, unpredictible chaos
(Source Jonsson, 2006)
22
Thank You!