Social work and Nordic welfare policies for children—present challenges in the light of the past1

1. This research has been completed as part of a Nordic research network in childhood research 1999–2004 (Brembeck et al., 2004). The authors are professors of social work in two different Nordic countries, Finland and Iceland, which are on the peripheries of Europe and often classified as the exception of ‘the Nordic model’ based on Scandinavian countries, i.e. Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore welfare policies for children in five Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden—and in that context identify what kinds of issues and challenges social work is currently facing. The data reviewed consist of policy documents, law texts, official reports, statistics, professional texts, and previous research. Policies and laws on children's protection; provisions, including policies on state benefits and care for children; and the autonomous integrity of children in terms of the norms and policies concerning their participation, in particular in public everyday life, are analysed from a historical perspective. Hence, future challenges for social work are analysed in light of the past. Our conclusion is that social workers have a unique opportunity, based on their close encounters with children as clients, to work for the realisation of children's rights. Furthermore, by applying a holistic perspective to issues of childhood and parenthood, social workers can contribute to the development of knowledge on how welfare systems can meet the challenges brought about by the new ideas of children's rights, social changes, globalisation, and the new ideological concepts of risk that have arisen in child welfare.

Artikkeli tarkastelee lasten hyvinvointipolitiikan kehitystä viidessä Pohjoismaassa—Tanskassa, Suomessa, Islannissa, Norjassa ja Ruotsissa—ja sen valossa sitä millaisia kysymyksiä ja haasteita tämän päivän lasten hyvinvoinnin parissa tehtävä sosiaalityö kohtaa. Artikkelissa on käytetty aineistona erilaisia politiikkadokumentteja, lakeja, julkisia raportteja,tilastoja, professionaalisia kirjoituksia sekä aiempaa tutkimusta. Artikkelissa analysoidaan historiallisesta näkökulmasta lastensuojelun, sosiaalipalvelujen, lapsille suunnattujen sosiaalisten tukien sekä lasten osallistumista koskevia normeja ja toimintapolitiikkaa. Sosiaalityön tulevaisuushaasteita analysoidaan menneisyyden valossa. Johtopäätöksemme on, että sosiaalityöntekijöillä on ainutlaatuinen mahdollisuus, joka perustuu heidän läheisiin työskentelysuhteisiinsa vaikeissa elämäntilanteissa olevien lasten kanssa, olla lasten oikeuksien todellisia toimeenpanijoita. Lisäksi lapsuuden ja vanhemmuuden näkökulmat yhdistävästä toimintapaikastaan käsin juuri sosiaalityöntekijät voivat vaikuttaa tutkimukseen ja kehittämiseen niin, että hyvinvointipalvelut ja –etuudet kohtaisivat nykyistä joustavammin lasten oikeuksien, yleisen yhteiskuntamuutoksen, globalisaation ja kovin ideologisena pitämämme riskiajattelun haasteet.

Keywords:

• Children's Rights
• Welfare Policies for Children
• Nordic History of Childhood
• Welfare State

Keywords:

• Lasten Oikeudet
• Lasten Hyvinvointipolitiikka
• Pohjoismaisen Lapsuuden Historia
• Hyvinvointivaltio

Notes

1. This research has been completed as part of a Nordic research network in childhood research 1999–2004 (Brembeck et al., 2004). The authors are professors of social work in two different Nordic countries, Finland and Iceland, which are on the peripheries of Europe and often classified as the exception of ‘the Nordic model’ based on Scandinavian countries, i.e. Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

2. A delightful exception from this is the classical article by Therborn (1993) on Politics of Childhood, where he paints a clear picture of how childhood was socially constructed by law applying both historical and comparative perspective, as we will come back to later in the text.

3. The political situation and social relations under Russian rule were such that processing a committee proposal for an act of child protection, including several disagreements concerning the proper institutional form, was impossible. After the Declaration of Independence (1917) and the following Civil War (1918) some important child legislation was passed, like the Act of Illegitimate Children (1922), which solved some of the problems partly replacing the missing Act of Child Protection.