Emergency social services is an on-call social welfare authority outside office hours. We serve everyone living in Helsinki as well as those staying in the city. We assess the need for urgent social welfare and, if necessary, arrange the necessary services related to it.
Among others, the tasks of the emergency social services can be related to
- Concern about the circumstances of a child or young person
- Acute concern about the well-being of an elderly or disabled person at home
- Other unexpected situation requiring immediate assessment by the social welfare authority
Please note that we do not process
- Money, bank transfers or invoice payment
- Child custody or visitation matters
- Situations that can wait until the next business day to resolve
In urgent situations that threaten life or health, always call 112!
Call us
Helsinki emergency social services
On weekdays, you should primarily contact services available during office hours.
How to reach social services on weekdays (services during office hours)
Families with children
You can contact social counselling for families with children on a low threshold. You do not need to know in advance what kind of assistance would be helpful for your family.
See contact information for social counselling for families with children
If there is a serious stressful situation in your family due to the use of intoxicants or the child's severe symptoms, for example, you can contact the assessment of the need for child welfare services or special support.
Adults
If you need advice and guidance on social services, applying for benefits or allowances and related issues, please contact social counselling.
View social counselling contact information
We also have other financial and housing counselling services.
See the contact details for our counselling services
Elderly persons
Senior Info serves Helsinki residents aged over 65 years who need help with things like relationships, life management or housing.
See Senior Info’s contact details
Notifications of concern and child welfare notifications
A notification of the need for social welfare (also known as a notification of concern) can be filed about an adult person when you are concerned about their well-being, health or safety and the person is not able to take care of themselves.
Based on your notification, social services professionals will contact the person you are reporting and assess what kind of help they may need. We cannot disclose information about the processing of the notification to anyone other than the subject of the notification.
We recommend that you file the notification mainly using the form on Maisa service’s front page, which does not require authentication. If the person subject to the notification lives in Helsinki, you can also call the social counselling service number.
View social counselling contact information
Go to Maisa’s homepage(Link leads to external service)
Read more about submitting a notification of concern
You can also submit a notification of concern about an elderly person in Senior Info.
Read more about the notification of concern for an elderly person
If you are concerned about a minor, you can file a child welfare notification.
Read more about filing a child welfare notification
A non-urgent child welfare notification can also be filed in Maisa without logging in.
You can also find this page at hel.fi/emergency-social-services.