Ombudsman seeks full reform of Child Welfare Act

The Ombudsman for Children on Tuesday submitted the report on rights of the children for the year 2022 to the parliament with several proposals including the need for a full reform of the Child Welfare Act.

Ombudsman Elina Pekkarinen handed the report over to Speaker Matti Vanhanen, which found that the best interests of the child being a primary consideration must be included under basic rights in the Constitution of Finland.

The report showed that that the rights of children were challenged during the period of observation by phenomena such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and declining birth rates.

Numerous extensive reforms have been and will be carried out in our society, and the rights of children have been taken into consideration to a varying degree when preparing and implementing those reforms, said the report.

It found that children’s rights has progressed in small steps and requires constant reminders. At the same

time, children and young people want to participate and make an impact on not only their own lives but also decisions made in society as a whole.

The Ombudsman also proposed that the basis of knowledge and resources of Finland’s education policy must be ensured across government terms by committing to a clearly defined level of funding that corresponds to the funding of other Nordic countries.

Every four years, the Ombudsman for Children presents the Finnish Parliament with a report concerning

matters related to the Ombudsman’s area of responsibility. The Report to Parliament by the Ombudsman for Children was published for the first time in 2018.

The purpose of the current Report to Parliament is to provide the Parliament with an overview on the position of children and realisation of their rights in Finland in 2018 – 2021.

Click the Ombudsman Report to know detail.