The possibilities for effective child protection - The Finnish research perspective

This article focuses on effectiveness in child protection in the Finnish context. Its aim is to set out and analyse the challenges and opportunities that relate to effective social work practice and effectiveness research in relation to child protection services in Finland. As part of this analysis, we examine findings our research project Needs, processes and outcomes in child protection (Vornanen et al. 2008). The article maintains that the prerequisites for such effectiveness can be categorized into societal and organizational factors that are related to the characteristics of child protection work in Finland. Whilst not providing precise answers to the challenging questions on effectiveness in child protection, this article clarifies the fundamental questions we need to ask in order to start to provide those answers.