Amendments to Child Welfare Act to strengthen means to safeguard everyday life for children in substitute care

Most of the first-phase amendments to child welfare legislation will enter into force on 1 October 2026.  However, the provisions on a closed institutional service providing rehabilitation will enter into force on 1 January 2027. The amendments aim to strengthen children’s right to balanced development and protection and to improve the possibilities of child welfare services to ensure a safe everyday life for children.

The amendments will give child welfare authorities and substitute care units clearer and wider powers to carry out their work. They will also clarify the use of educational practices and restrictive measures in both family care and child welfare institutions. In addition, the Child Welfare Act will include provisions on a new closed institutional service providing rehabilitation.

Educational practices to support safe everyday life in substitute care

To ensure balanced development and protection for children, restrictions may be imposed on children according to their age and level of development in the same way as parents set limits for their children as part of normal upbringing. Care, upbringing and supervision can never be oppressive or violate a child’s dignity in any way. 

In future, family carers, family care home staff or care staff in child welfare institutions may remove from children any items whose possession is prohibited under any other Act or which may pose a safety risk if misused. Smart devices may also be removed from children if the use of such devices compromises the best interests of the child.

Talking with children and hearing what they have to say are always the primary approach. 

These educational practices will support the possibilities of substitute care units to provide children placed in care with a safe, adult-led and homely living environment. Everyday life may also include conflicts, and because of this, adults must have sufficient means to act in the best interests of the child.