The Quality of Child Protection Buffers the Need for Emergency Child Removals—An Analysis of the Finnish Child Protection System

Abstract

This study aims to determine which level of quality of child protection services reduces the demand for emergency child removals at the system level in Finland. A moderation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the dependent variable (the proportion of emergency child removals) and its predictors (the number of economically insecure families, and the proportion of completed needs assessment cases for child protection services within the statutory time-limit). The data on 292 municipalities during 2017–2019 were retrieved from the Sotkanet Indicator Bank (Finland). According to the results, the number of economically insecure families was associated with the demand for emergency child removals, but the higher quality of child protection services had a positive buffering effect on the relationship. The tentative results show that an essential factor in the demand for child protection services is the high quality of child protection services, an important consideration in allocating resources for services. The need for child protection is a complex issue that is often approached from an individualistic perspective. This study underlines the need for a broader and systemic-level review of child protection services.