Finnish gov't apologizes to children mistreated in protective services

Finnish government made an official apology on Sunday to the children who had been mistreated in all forms of child welfare substitute care in Finland.

November 20 is the Universal Children's Day, set by the United Nations in 1954. Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health held an event to openly discuss the failures in the country's child substitute care.

Juha Rehula, Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services, made a formal apology on behalf of the government to persons who had been subject to maltreatment, shortcomings or violence during their stays in protective services over the past decades.

"We must learn from our mistakes, admit them, speak them out loudly, and make changes to the way forward. We need to make sure this does not happen again," Rehula was quoted by national broadcaster Yle as saying.

The event followed a survey published by the government in April this year on shortcomings, maltreatment and violence in child welfare substitute care between 1937 and 1983. Finland had its first Child Welfare Act in 1983.

The survey conducted by the University of Jyvaskyla found that mistreatments and abuses occurred in all forms of child welfare substitute care during the period.

The current Child Welfare Act, which came into force in 2008, aims to protect children's rights to a safe growth environment, to balanced and well-rounded development and to special protection.

The new Act is more exact and detailed than the previous one. It regulates several new obligations for the authorities, and also introduces new statutory duties, measures and practices for child protection work. Endit