Equality and well-being of families and children

Mother reading to her children.

The objective of the Family Federation of Finland’s family policy advocacy work is to secure a good family life that enriches the family members’ individual lives and supports the well-being of parents, other guardians and the different romantic and platonic relationships as well as the balanced development of children.

All forms of families are just as valuable, and the basis for family policies must be built of equality. A family’s background should not have an effect on a child’s well-being. The realisation of children’s rights, safety education and sexual education appropriate to the child’s age level must be guaranteed for all children.

The Finnish society must be a child- and family-friendly society. The state must be committed to policies that support founding a family and improve the prerequisites for having children regarding the development of social welfare, services, education, housing polices and working life. The Finnish state and the municipalities can act as forerunners in the development of working life by creating permanent employment relationships for young people. This same long-term development should also be promoted in the labour market in general. All workplaces should be family friendly.

Our advocacy work regarding family policies is built on information gained through versatile and extensive research and client encounters. Our Population Research Institute has produced information concerning the social, psychological and financial well-being of families, among other subjects. We publish an annual Family Federation of Finland’s Family Barometer, which brings up the hopes and plans of citizens regarding their families as well as their opinions and experiences of family policies and living conditions of families.

At the moment, we are closely monitoring how the child strategy is progressing. We contribute to highlighting children’s rights and the needs of all families in the reforms of the social and health care sector, social welfare and family leaves and decreasing the poverty of families with children significantly.

We also aim to facilitate the reunification of families. It is important that immigrants have the right to bring their family members into their new home country. We are also highlighting the importance of relationship guidance and therapy. The services provided by different organisations help to complement the public sector’s services in this respect.