Abstract
Day care in Finland comprising care, education and teaching—called Educare or the ECEC model—can be used as an open care (community care) support measure for children whose development is at risk. The general aim of the study was to investigate whether the needs of child welfare client children and their parents are fulfilled in day care services from the perspective of parents and professionals. The questions were: (1) How are the individual needs of child protection client children met in day care? (2) In what way does day care support the parenting of child welfare client parents? (3) What kind of enabling and hindering factors, processes and mechanisms are there for good outcomes from day care for children and parents? The study uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The methods used were a questionnaire for parents (N = 42), group-level documentary materials from day care and social services officers about the problems faced by client children and parents, and interviews with ECEC and child welfare staff (N = 28). Parents experienced many problems, including exhaustion, poor mental health, substance abuse and parenting problems. Twenty percent of the children had individual support needs. The parents were very satisfied with the ECEC service their children were receiving and the parenting support provided. The ECEC professionals highlighted many positive changes in children in day care and they were also able to support parenting. The enabling and hindering factors for good outcomes were connected with the attitudes and problems of the clients, administrative processes within sectors, and cooperation between ECEC and child welfare staff. ECEC services can considerably increase the safety and well-being of child welfare client children and support their parents in their upbringing. The role and cooperation of ECEC and child welfare staff need clarification.
Highlights
Universal services for families with children have been considered key to the Nordic welfare model (Sipila 1997)
In this article we focus on how successful early childhood education in day care centres is in helping children and their families who already are registered as child welfare clients, and how the prerequisites for and hindrances to success are interpreted by mothers, social workers and multi-professional teams in ECEC
The aim of this study was to analyse how Finnish early childhood education and care responds to the needs of child welfare client children and their parents
Summary
Universal services for families with children have been considered key to the Nordic welfare model (Sipila 1997). One of the main principles of child welfare and family policy in Finland is that families should be supported in their children’s upbringing (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2013), the primary role of parents as caregivers for their children is stated in laws and guidelines. Analyses of the Nordic Early Childhood Education and Care services (hereafter ECEC services or the Educare model) have revealed contradictory tendencies in Finnish child care policy regarding children’s participation in public ECEC services. Finland has introduced the strongest rights for public child care within the Nordic welfare regime. Children aged 0–6 years have a right to participate in ECEC services, regardless of parental employment
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