Enhanced family work for young people is a service provided by child welfare for young people and their families. The service is suitable for situations where the young person's behaviour or everyday life gives cause for concern. We will support the young people's wellbeing and development, family relationships and the parents' parenting. The service is also suitable for when a young person returns home after being in substitute care.
Who is the service for, and how can I access it?
Enhanced family work for young people is intended for young people exhibiting or experiencing things such as:
- defiant or oppositional behaviour
- aggressiveness
- difficulties with school attendance
- mental health strain
- occasional substance use
- risk of social exclusion.
The service is also suitable for families who find everyday life to be overwhelming or who are facing challenges with parenting.
The child or young person’s designated social worker will assess whether the service is right for your family. If the service is suitable, the social worker will write you a referral to the service.
How is the work carried out?
We will work together with the young person and their family. First, we will draw up a plan. In it, we will agree on the objectives, responsibilities, meetings and partners.
The objectives are based on your family’s needs. Their purpose is to make everyday life easier and strengthen the wellbeing of your whole family. Active participation by the young person and their family will help ensure the best results. We will monitor progress towards the objectives and specify the plan as necessary.
We will assign two social instructors to your family. They will meet with the young person and your family, both together and separately. Where necessary, other professionals involved in the young person’s everyday life, such as employees of their school or care provider, will also be involved.
- Generally, you will meet with the employees 1–2 times a week.
- Each meeting will last roughly 1.5 hours.
- The work usually continues for 6–12 months.
- We will review the objectives roughly every 3 months.
Our meetings can take place at your home, at school, at a youth centre, at a family centre or at our office for enhanced family work for young people.
We will record the meetings in the Apotti system together with your family. If you wish, you can read the records via the Maisa portal.
At the end of the work, we will:
- review together what we have achieved
- assess how well we were able to achieve the objectives
- agree on the next steps
- record the key matters in the Maisa portal.