On July 21 the online edition “Saqartvelo da Msoflio” (Georgia and the World) published an article entitled “Global Medieval Era: Terrorism, Homosexuality, Paganism and Juvenile Justice“. The author of the article argues that most of the eighty thousand children under the control of the Finnish public guardianship authority have not been reinstated to their parents.
Nika Korinteli, journalist: “The social supervisory body of the juvenile system, which consists of social workers and psychologists, has the authority to take the child out of the parent’s care based solely upon their own decision, and the court appeal of this decision will require several years to process. For information: Eighty thousand children were placed under the supervision of the Finnish tutelage authority. Most of them have not been handed back to their parents.”
This assertion is false, as the statistics for the 2015 indicate that the admission of children and adolescents inside the system has diminished and such a measure has been necessary in only 17 664 of the cases.
According to 2015 statistical data, the short-term and long-term placement of children and adolescents in state protection has been reduced. Overall, 17,664 children and adolescents were lodged outside of their own household in 2015, with a total of 3733 cases being provided with an Emergency Placement service. By the end of 2015, the safekeeping of half of the above-mentioned children and adolescents had been assigned to a foster family and another 13% had been place under the trust of relatives. (see diagram).
Schedule of placing Children and Adolescents outside the household, taking under supervision or Emergency Placement (1991-2015).
Emergency placement is the measure the state has to take if the child is in immediate danger and / or in immediate need of assistance. Emergency placement will be undertaken in cases when there is clear evidence of a parent being violent to the child and / or creating an environment, which poses an imminent threat to the child’s health and normal development.
Prepared by Giorgi Revishvili
Myth Detector Laboratory
