Children and the policies of the 2000s
The programme on developing child and youth policy is
exceptionally wide-ranging: the drafting process involved all
ministries, a large number of NGOs, and experts. Drawn up under the
auspices of the Ministry of Education, the inter-administrative
programme provides a basis for the Government's policy programme on
the well-being of children, young people and families. In addition,
children and young people are a key priority in the policy
programme on health promotion.
The extensive programme activity was preceded by more than a
decade of lively project-based research and development activity.
The shift from projects to programmes is an indication of the
efforts being made to grasp the overall picture in new ways, in the
changing circumstances. One reason for this has been the alarming
news about a drastic increase in the number of children in need of
special protection, care and education in Finland.
The issue of "special-needs children" is vast and open to many
interpretations. The increase in the number of children in need of
special care, education and protection may be due to several, even
diverging development trends. It reflects the increasing
polarisation in society - and perhaps also a greater sensitivity to
the needs and rights of children. Expressions of concern also
become more prevalent as the spaces of childhood are diminishing;
special needs cannot be given a sufficiently careful thought in
large, ever-changing groups, with children who are "different" or
have the greatest needs being separated from others.
The burden upon last-resort child welfare is affected by various
factors, including the exodus of qualified social workers from
child welfare work and the diminishing availability of tangible
everyday assistance, such as home-help services. A persistent
problem is the poorly functioning co-operation between mental
health and substance abuse prevention services for adults and child
welfare authorities. The age sensitivity of psychosocial work
requires increasingly close attention; the growth from the early
embryo stage to adulthood involves dramatically different
developmental stages.
What kind of overall approach should we outline for
constructing the future?
Today's structural changes in society are quite similar in scale
to those experienced with the advance of industrialisation, which
was followed by the creation of a matching childhood policy. Cash
benefits and services designed for an industrial society, as well
as related approaches and actions, need to be revised. A period of
change has direct and indirect impacts on people's material and
mental lives and values, and these impacts vary from one population
group to another. Welfare systems are going through a painful
period of transition; old structures have been partly dismantled
while new ones are still being established.
"Having - loving - being" is Erik Allardt's (1976) well-known
crystallisation of the dimensions of well-being in terms of both
human needs and social structures. The key point is that the
precondition for well-being is the satisfaction of needs on all
three dimensions. An improved standard of living (having) is alone
not enough, and increasing inequalities pose a serious and
multifaceted problem.
Community relations (loving) in families and other communities
need space and time. The experience of being important (being)
springs from chances to be heard as a valuable human being and to
fulfil one's potential together with other people so as not to be
alienated or excluded.
The interrelationships and better balance between these three
dimensions should be explored with regard to all environments for
the growth of children and young people; family, day care and
school are the most important daily environments that are affected
by material resources, community relations and experiences of being
important.
We should build creative daily communities that help develop
social capital so that no child will remain a stranger to others
and to him/herself.
Marjatta Bardy
Research Professor |