About us

At the time of writing, it’s been two months of war in Ukraine. Just when it began to look like the corona pandemic was easing up and light was visible at the end of the tunnel, the shadow of war spread over Europe.

It is the duty of us adults to protect our growing children from the shadows and various threats. Amid all this, we must nurture hope for a better future. Parenting support is more important than ever, and adequate resources must be secured for it. Tackling child poverty, lowering the threshold for family services and building a safe childhood are the most important issues.

At the beginning of 2023, a significant proportion of services for children and families will be transferred to wellbeing services counties.  Going forward, maternity and child health clinics, mental health services for children and child welfare will be handled by the wellbeing services counties. The councils of the wellbeing services counties will decide on how these services will be produced in the future.

The National Child Strategy was adopted in spring 2021 and is now being implemented. For the first time, municipalities and wellbeing services counties have a nationwide strategy to push through children’s rights at all levels of government at their disposal.

Decision-making requires a strong understanding of what proportion of public money is spent on children and the impact they will have. It is important that child budgeting and child impact assessment are integrated in the operations of the wellbeing services counties from the start. Our common mission is to ensure that children and young people are made visible at all levels of decision-making.

To ensure that the right assistance reaches as many children, adolescents and families with children, decision-makers and managers of family services must have access to the latest, evidence-based information. The central focus should be on knowledge-based management, measuring the social impact of services and the inclusivity of children.

Mirka Soinikoski
Itla Children’s Foundation Chairperson of the Delegation
Member of Parliament, anesthesiologist