Quality recommendation for child welfare

Abstract

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities issue a quality recommendation for child welfare for the first time. The recommendation is issued principally in support of the implementation, evaluation, development and management of child welfare services in municipalities. The quality recommendation is also addressed to children, young people, parents and persons close to them as well as other child welfare actors. The child is in the centre of the recommendation. The recommendation deals with all the five ethical principles integrated into the objectives of the quality recommendation: human dignity and fundamental rights of the clients, ? the child s best interests, interaction, the quality of the work of professionals, and accountable decisions and operational culture. There are altogether 27 recommendations, divided into four content areas: Inclusion in child welfare matters and making use of expertise obtained through experience in the development of services; A child-oriented joint service system and cooperation between different actors; Competent professionals, division of duties and support for work and Multidimensional evaluation. Each sub-area of the recommendation describes the characteristics of the quality of child welfare, provides examples and supplementary information, and the relevant recommendations are placed in the end of the component. The last chapter of the recommendation deals with monitoring of the implementation of the recommendation.