Workshop 1.6 - Deutscher Verein für öffentliche und private Fürsorge

The Use of New Information Technologies in the Field of User Involvement in Social Services
Ani Kajander, Project Director, eConsultation for Social Services National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health
(STAKES) Finland
’Information Society for All’ – but are the Social Services Included? Finnish Experiences
Introduction
My aim in this presentation is to look into the ways information and communication technologies (ICTs) could and are used to enhance
users’ participation in the planning, delivery and evaluation of social services. My focus is on the Internet and web services and also on
individual clients rather than on organisations representing them.
I work at STAKES1 , the Finnish National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health. My own interests lie presently in
the information and expertise Finnish social workers use in their job. I am head of a three-year national project2 developing and complementing
consultation services for social workers, developing networks for peer support and co-operation as well as an extensive
Internet portal for easy access to relevant professional information. One of the aims of the project is to further the social workers'
possibilities to participate in the planning of the Finnish social service system as well as heir say in setting guidelines for social services.
Background
Social services in Finland
In Finland, the responsibility for providing social welfare as well as health care services lies with the municipalities. There are 450 of
them ranging from Helsinki with over half million inhabitants to the smallest with less than 200 inhabitants. Half of all municipalities
have a population under 5000. All have local autonomy; i.e. the municipal councils make the final decisions on the quantity and quality
of social services. Although the municipalities are required by law to provide social services for their residents, the legislation does not
set down detailed requirements for the extent, content or method of this service provision.
Recently, however, acquisition of certain services – children’s day care and some services for disabled – has become a subjective right
of the client.
Most social services are provided by the municipality, but it can also purchase services for its residents from other municipalities, NGOs,
non-profit and for-profit enterprises. The share of NGOs and enterprises is rising. In any case, the municipal social welfare office decides
whether the client can have the service he wants and also how much he has to pay for it. There are a few private services where the
municipality has no say.
Status and rights of social service users
The principles for the participation, treatment and legal rights of Finnish social service users are stated in the Act on the Status and
Rights of Social Welfare Clients (in force since January 2001). According to the Act, clients are entitled to receive social services of a
high quality as well as a considerate and non-discriminatory treatment, from the authorities and personnel implementing social welfare.
Special attention must be given to allow the client a say and, whenever possible, a choice in the social services provided. The client’s
right of self-determination is emphasised as well as the confidentiality of the client – service provider relationship.
The Act applies to all social services provided by both the public and the private sector.
Each municipality must have a social welfare ombudsman to assist and advise the clients, to act as an arbitrator between the client
and the service provider and to help the client to file complaints. The ombudsman also monitors the client's status and rights in the
municipality.
Of course, the Client Act did not introduce the idea of user participation to the Finnish social service system. It has a much longer history
both in legislation and in practise. It however, strengthens the position of individual social welfare users opening them new channels
for participation in the planning and delivery of their own services.
1) STAKES www.stakes.fi
The Finnish National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health is committed to promoting the well-being and health of people and to securing equal access
for all to high-quality and effective welfare and healthcare services.
STAKES produces information and know-how in the field of welfare and health and forwards them to decision-makers and other actors in the field. As a centre of expertise
overseen by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, STAKES bases its functions on research, development and information.
2) The eConsultation for Social Services Project aims to support social workers and other professionals working in the social sector by making relevant expertise and knowledge
more easily and more widely available for them. The impetus for this three-year project was provided by the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and it was
launched by STAKES in September 2001.
The eConsultation project:
- gathers information, guidance documents, recommendations and examples of good practice and make them available through a national Internet portal;
- provides opportunities for professionals to set up their own networks for peer support;
- establishes a databank of consultation services available for social work;
- develops good practises for consultation and
- develops information-based ways of working.
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