Temporary care by child welfare and family social work is a 24-hour and short-term service. There are many different reasons to apply for this service, such as a child's need for special support, being a customer of child welfare or a parent's need for rest.
If necessary, we can also arrange temporary care for the child's siblings.
Temporary care helps with problems in the child's upbringing, the parents' stress levels and when the family's social network is small. Temporary care relieves the family's stress when they do not have their own support network and they are exhausted. The service supports the family and the child's functional capacity at the earliest possible stage. Usually, this service if for single parents, who are solely responsible for the family's everyday life and the child does not meet their other parent on a regular basis.
The responsible social worker assesses the need for and duration of temporary care and helps the family apply for it.
What are the grounds for temporary care?
You can apply into this service for a child who has an active application for a volunteer or professional support family, but has not received the service or the service has not been suitable for the child. Children in temporary care are usually 3–12 years old, but there is room for discretion in either direction. A child enrolling in the service must be able to interact with new people and to follow spoken instructions.
We arrange temporary care both on weekdays and weekends and agree on treatment periods in advance. The service is provided for 48 hours (over 3 days) once a month (e.g. Tue–Thu or Fri–Sun). Institutionalised temporary care can be applied for six months at a time.
Temporary care is not a replacement for other necessary services, such as personal support of the child or group activities. Neither is the service a replacement for the need for substitute care and cannot be used to facilitate the holiday of a caregiver or foster carer.
What happens during temporary care?
We arrange temporary care in connection with daily family rehabilitation at Rastila.
Temporary care is a home-like activity that promotes the family's functional capacity. Our professional staff ensures that the temporary care is good and safe place to be.
Diverse activities are held in temporary care. During a stay, we can, for example, go outdoors, go camping, go to the swimming pool, cook or bake together, have a movie night, play games or fool around.
The program may also include longer excursions to, for example, an indoor playground or the zoo.