CONDUCTING COMMISSIONED RESEARCH

Abstract

In 2013, the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health commissioned a testimony-driven inquiry into failings in child welfare in 1937–1983. An academic research team was appointed to produce data on maltreatment (knowledge production), to identify and recognize injustice (moral objective), and to recommend improvents in child welfare services (developmental objective). This article discusses the Inquiry and scrutinizes the strengths and weaknesses of the model applied. Two aspects emerged to suggest that commissioned research is susceptible. First, among care-leavers, the Inquiry raised a variety of expectations, which the report and subsequent apology ceremony were able to meet only partially. Second, as ad hoc teams were commissioned to draft recommendations with no political mandate, it is unclear who monitors whether recommendations are acted upon or not. However, the commissioned research had strengths in its knowledge production as well as in its political neutrality.

Keywords:

• inquiry
• Finland
• historical redress
• children in care
• history of childhood
• commissioned research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. E.g. Van Bueren, The International Law; Olick, The Politics; Barkan, The Guilt; Löfström, Voiko historiaa.

2. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon. The Inquiry was conducted at the Department of History and Ethnology. The authors of this article contributed to the Inquiry, Hytönen and Malinen as researchers and Markkola as the director of the project.

3. The concept of ‘apology movement’ was used by Swain, Wright and Sköld, Conceptualising and Categorising, 10.

4. The concept suggested by Swain, Wright and Sköld, ‘Conceptualising and Categorising’, 10.

5. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Press release (in Finnish). [http://stm.fi/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/lastensuojelun-sijaishuollossa-kaltoin-kohdelluilta-pyydettiin-anteeksi] Accessed 26 January 2018.

6. Sopimus selvitystyöstä. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Contract 016/STO/EER/2014.

7. Selvitystyön suunnitelma, 3–4.

8. Sköld, ‘Apology Politics’, 23; Malinen, Hytönen, and Oksanen, ‘Lastensuojelun hallinnosta’, 90–1. Cf. Wright, ‘Remaking Collective Knowledge’, 10.

9. Harrinvirta, Strategies of Public.

10. On changes in the Nordic inquiry tradition, see Swain, Wright, and Sköld, ‘Conceptualising and Categorising’, 4; see also Wright, ‘Remaking Collective Knowledge’, 12; Marier, ‘Public Inquiries’, 171; Rainio-Niemi, Nordic Paradox, 40.

11. Rytter, Godhavnsrapporten; Rytter and Rasmussen, ‘The Godhavn Inquiry’; Swain, Wright, and Sköld, ‘Conceptualising and Categorising’, 4; Arvidsson, in this special issue.

12. Pösö, Kolme koulukotia; Pösö, Vakavat silmät; Pekkarinen, Stadilaispojat.

13. Cf. Wright, ‘Remaking Collective Knowledge’, 11.

14. Muhonen et. al, From Productive Interactions, 13.

15. Selvitystyön suunnitelma, 4.

16. The chair from the Ministry was an adjunct professor in health sciences; other members included professor of history and research professor from the National Institute for Health and Welfare.

17. This conclusion is based on our notes from the steering group meetings in 2014–2016.

18. See e.g. Harrikari, Alaikäisyys ja rikollisuuden; Pekkarinen, Stadilaispojat; Vehkalahti, Constructing Reformatory Identity.

19. See e.g. Pösö, Kolme koulukotia; Pösö, Vakavat silmät.

20. Selvitystyön suunnitelma, 8.

21. See XXI B:14, 81.

22. Rautanen, ‘Perheryhmäkoti’; Korpi and Hernesniemi, ‘Lastenkodit’; Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 33, 38.

23. Selvitystyön suunnitelma, 8.

24. Vehkalahti, Constructing Reformatory Identity, xiii–xiv.

25. Vehkalahti, Constructing Reformatory Identity, 32; Haikari, Latu auki, 17.

26. STV 1962, Table 42. Maternities, live births and stillbirths.

27. E.g. Sweden up to 1980, Denmark 1945–1976, Oslo in Norway 1954–1993, Northern Ireland 1922–1995. In Finland, young care-leavers wanted to give their testimonies. Some inquiries in Australia cover the present abuse. On inquiries, see Wright, Swain and Sköld, ‘Conceptualising and Categorising’.

28. Selvitystyön suunnitelma, 4.

29. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 17.

30. Cf. in the Danish inquiry 14 women out of 99 informants. Rytter, Godhavnsrapporten, 14.

31. Sköld, ‘The Truth About’; Sköld and Swain, ‘Introduction’, 2; Wright, ‘Remaking Collective Knowledge’, 14. In the Commonwealth countries and in Ireland, inquiries are conducted in a more legalistic fashion. Formal public hearings are typically an important part of investigatory process. Wright, ‘Remaking Collective Knowledge’, 15.

32. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon.

33. Frank, ‘Just Trying to Relax’, 63; On gender aspects, see e.g. Bozzoli, ‘Interviewing the Women’.

34. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon; Klempner, ‘Navigating Life Review’.

35. The material will be archived in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD). All informants gave written informed consent to participate and to the archiving of the interview for use in future research. In Sweden, consent for future research must be acquired separately.

36. Royal Commission, 4.

37. Grønbæk Jensen, Rasmussen, and Kragh, Anbragt i Historien: https://www.anbragtihistorien.dk/images/Indsamling%20af%20jenvidneberetninger.pdf

38. Abrams, Oral History Theory, 40–2; Thompson, Voice of the Past.

39. See e.g. Portelli, ‘What Makes Oral History Different’; Abrams, Oral History Theory.

40. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 19; on giving a voice to abused and neglected children, see e.g. Wilson and Golding, ‘Contested Memories’; Sköld and Vehkalahti, ‘Marginalized Children’, 406–7.

41. However, we did not compare interviews with the interviewees’ case files. On narratives vs. archival records, see Sköld and Jensen, ‘Truth Seeking’, 160–1; on epistemological dilemma between the objective of knowledge production and the objective of recognition and justice, see Sköld, ‘The Truth About’, 493–4.

42. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 159.

43. Kalela, Making History, 128–9.

44. Cf. findings reported by Wright, Swain, and Sköld, The Age of Inquiry; Wright, ‘Remaking Collective Knowledge’, 17.

45. Sköld, ‘The Truth About’, 507.

46. Table 2 shows only the main characteristics of the results, and thus simplifies the experiences of abuse, neglect, and violence of the interviewees. The detailed analysis of the results will be published elsewhere.

47. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 102–3; Haikari, Latu auki, 107.

48. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 34.

49. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 168–9.

50. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon; Haikari, Latu auki, 118.

51. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 15, 166.

52. Brennan, ‘Trials and Contestations’; Ferguson, ‘Abused and Looked After’, 127.

53. Cf. Ericsson, ‘Children’s Agency’, 49–50.

54. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 159.

55. Cf. Savolainen, ‘Tellability, Frame and Silence’, 35.

56. According to Gallup polls in Finland, universities are often among the top five most trusted institutions. See e.g. Summary of the Finnish Science Barometer (2016), http://www.tieteentiedotus.fi/files/Sciencebarometer_2016_web.pdf

57. On the role of historians, see Bingham et. al., ‘Historical Child’.

58. Hytönen et al., Lastensuojelun sijaishuollon, 175; Cf. Brennan, ‘Trials and Contestations’, 65–6.

59. For example, child welfare association Pesäpuu ry organized a programme entitled ‘Experienced together’ (2017), the purpose of which was to influence the general public’s attitudes and prejudices regarding child welfare.

60. E.g. Pösö, Vakavat silmät; Laitala and Puuronen, Yhteiskunnan tahra.

61. Löfström, Voiko historiaa.

62. Markkola, Historiantutkimus ja, 222.

63. Press release 212/2016, Official apology to everyone who suffered maltreatment in foster care in past decades. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 20.11.2016.

64. Cf. Sweden, where another committee (SOU 2011:9) prepared the redress scheme. Selvitystyön suunnitelma, 16.

65. Laitala and Puuronen, Yhteiskunnan tahra, 238–9.

66. Sköld, ‘The Truth About’, 493; Edwards, ‘Cultural, Autobiographical’.

67. Cf. Conway, ‘Commemoration’, 6.

68. Answer to the written question KKV 454/2017. Parliament records 2017.

69. See http://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/1271139/lastensuojelun-sijaishuollossa-kaltoin-kohdelluilta-pyydettiin-anteeksi, accessed 26 January 2018. In 2015, Åland issued an apology and allocated funds to develop child welfare services. Minutes of plenary session 4.6.2015, Department of Social and Environmental issues, the Government of Åland, http://old.regeringen.ax/.composer/ls-prot/SOCIAL/2015/S1015P04_040615.html; Roos and Lund, Det värsta var övergivenheten.

70. On the funding centre in English, see https://www.stea.fi/web/en. On the grants, see https://www.stea.fi/aineistopankki. Accessed 29 June 2018.

71. Harrinvirta, Strategies of Public.

72. Moreover, a senior civil servant who chaired the steering group suddenly passed away, and the Ministry lost much of its tacit and explicit knowledge related to the Inquiry.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland (Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences).

Notes on contributors

Antti Malinen

Antti Malinen is a postdoctoral researcher, Centre of Ecxellence in the History of Experiences (HEX), Tampere University.

Pirjo Markkola

Pirjo Markkola is Professor of History, Tampere University and Vice Director, Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences (HEX).

Kirsi-Maria Hytönen

Kirsi-Maria Hytönen is a postdoctoral researcher, Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä.