Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliiton Kaakkois-Suomen piiri ry
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Mission Statement
Every child is entitled to a happy and good childhood. The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare works to make this possible together with volunteers, and other organizations, both public and private. The Mannerheim League is an NGO and membership is open to everyone. It promotes the wellbeing families and children, strives to give childhood the respect it deserves and seeks to make children more visible. MLL actively endorses that the views of children are taken into account in public decision-making. The Mannerheim League is the largest child welfare organization in Finland. It has 85 853 members and 548 local associations throughout the country. The work of these local associations is supported by the League’s 10 district organizations. MLL Kaakkois-Suomen piiri is one of the district organizations. Area: Southeast The league aims to ensure that -children are equal members of society. -every child enjoys safe and happy surroundings. -parenting and education are respected and supported. -volunteer work, helping, caring and joint responsibility increase a healthy, secure childhood. A Healthy, Secure Childhood The Mannerheim League supports parenting and intergenerational practice and promotes creating a healthy environment for children. Affection, care and well-being are the cornerstones of a good childhood. The Mannerheim League is now concentrating on the following challenges: -Bullying prevention at school and during freetime. -Promoting good self esteem and mental health amongst children and youth -Promoting literacy skills in children and youth in a world that has become more fast-paced. -Guaranteeing children the right to their childhood. -Supporting parents and families and promoting responsible parenting -Increasing interest and promoting the value of volunteer work -developing partnerships across traditional boundaries of cooperation and advancing a global -approach to the problems of children and families with children.
About This Cause
The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (MLL) is a Finnish non-profit organization that has worked towards the implementation of children’s rights in Finland since 1920. In the early 20th century, the League’s activities centred on developing primary health care for children. MLL was the organization that established the first maternity clinic, created a network of maternity and child welfare clinics throughout the country, launched Home Aid operations and developed training and education in the field of childcare in Finland. Later, the organization of welfare and health services became the task of the public sector. Today the League focuses on civil activities, influencing society and organizing various kinds of peer support for families with children. MLL is the largest child welfare organization in Finland and the nationwide central organization includes 10 district organizations and 548 local associations. The League’s Central Office is located in Helsinki. District organizations have 85 853 members. Over 20,000 volunteers take part in MLL’s volunteer work every year. Every year 830 000 hours of volunteer work is done on behalf of the welfare of children and families. The League has 551 employees, 20 of those work at our MLL South-Eastern district. Over 800 volunteers participate in MLL South-Eastern district´s volunteer work every year. MLL’s Family Centre activities include various peer support groups: Family Cafés, children’s clubs, communal grand parenting and mentors for families with children. And almost every municipality in Finland has an MLL local association in it. These promote the welfare of families with children by offering peer support and organizing open places to meet other families, events and lectures about parenthood for families and leisure activities for children. Children’s Welfare The majority of young and school age children in Finland are healthy and are doing well. The socioeconomic differences in the health of the population have increased and the effects can already be seen in children. Issues that affect the welfare of young children welfare include, depression in parents, divorce and losing contact with one of the parents, parental drinking and family poverty, the last of which particularly affects one-parent families. Many wealthy parents also experience loneliness and do not receive sufficient help from their network of friends and family for one reason or another. Families feel that the time they spend together is insufficient, and approximately one in four school children have parents who are divorced. Single parent families have and increased risk for childhood poverty. A parents unemployment is known to be linked to mental health problems among young people. Some school age children and young people need improvement with their health habits including: getting sufficient sleep, taking care of oral hygiene, screen time and getting enough exercise. Often the changes in health and well-being formed in childhood and youth are permanent. Acquired habits in health and well-being is a strong indicator of a persons welfare later in life. Local Family Centre Activities MLL organizes open places and spaces for families to meet and gather. Everyone is welcome and the threshold to participate is kept very low. The League is actively part of the municipality network of Family Centre services. In Finland, a Family Centre refers to multiprofessional services that are aimed at families with children. They aim to offer preventive services and early support. The municipality is responsible for offering professional services to families with children and the involved NGOs' develop forms of preventive activities together with the municipality. MLL Family Centre activities are mainly organized using volunteers. District organizations are in charge of coordinating the activities and training the volunteers. The League trains volunteers to recognise situations where a participant in a group, or a parent visiting a Family Café, needs to be guided to a professional for help. For example, long-lasting melancholy, the culmination of problems in a relationship or exhaustion are problems that require professional help. MLL’s open meeting places and activities are intended for all families with children. Peer groups MLL’s district organizations and local associations organize over 250 peer groups for parents of different backgrounds. The number of people visiting these groups is almost 26,000. Peer group instructors participate in instructor training provided organized by MLL. Instructors are often volunteers, but they may also be hired by the association or district organization. Participants in these groups have an opportunity to make new friends and share experiences about parenting and everyday life. Participants in the League’s peer groups have found that friends, their own partner and relatives are their most important and immediate support in their journey of parenthood. It is important to invest in families and opportunities to find early support. Family Cafés MLL has more than 460 Family Cafés, which are meeting places for parents and children alike. The Family Café instructor is a volunteer. Family Cafés assemble usually once a week for a few hours at a time, for example, in the club room of a residential building, a park or a municipal Family Centre. The café programme is planned together with the participants and, in addition to free discussion, it includes structured activities and short presentations on subjects that parents are interested in. Participants in addition to the instructor, are parents who take care of their children at home. Their most important reason to attend the café is that their children can play with other children. Parents also want to meet other parents and share parenting experiences and make friends. A third of the visitors say that they have no social network at hand. The Family Café reaches many kinds of families that share a similar situation in life. A great many of the visitors say that the café has helped them to adjust to their new locality and that it has provided them with information about services available for families with children. Family Support persons MLL’s support person programs for families consists of professionally directed voluntary work. Our target is to increase the well-being of the family. The League makes a contract with the municipality about the organization of these activities. The support persons are voluntary peers trained by the League who, with the support of a League employee, agree with the family when and how to begin. The support person participates in the everyday activities of the family together with the parent, such as taking the children out to play. The parent can chat with the support person, share their feelings with them and receive support and encouragement in coping in their parenthood. The League gives the support person basic training and instruction in their tasks. For example the League recruits and trains volunteer mothers as friends for immigrant mothers. Volunteers help these immigrant mothers in the usual everyday activites and errands, such as helping them learn how local services work and showing them where various offices can be found. There is a need to support children in a new ways due to the Covid crisis. MLL developed a new format, that helped children with school tasks by offering them online homework help. During the aftermath of the Covid crisis, there is an increased need for face to face homework support. Communal Grand Parenting After breaking free from working life, many pensioners want to take part in civic activities and share their competence and life experiences by participating in volunteer work that they find meaningful. Many children have grandparents who live a long distance away. One in five of the visitors to the League’s Family Cafés say that they rarely meet their grandparents. The League’s Communal Grand Parenting activities increase interaction between generations and offer children a feeling of communal security. MLL organizes and coordinates approximately 350 communal grandparents who work as volunteers in Family Cafés, day-care centres, children’s clubs and libraries. They read, play, participate in arts and crafts and participate on excursions with the children. They are never solely responsible for the group of children; instead, either a parent or an employee is always in charge of the group. A communal grandparent’s most important job is to give children some personal time with a secure adult. Playing, joy and spontaneous feedback from the children also boost the well-being of our aging volunteers. Volunteer work decreases loneliness and gives their lives new meaning. Children’s Clubs MLL club activities for children offer more than 10,000 children every year an opportunity to try a hobby and learn new things together with other children. The children participating in the clubs are mainly under school age. There is usually a small participation fee for the clubs. The club activities are generally share activities for children and adults. The clubs generally meet once a week and their programme consists often of exercise, music, play and art. For the children, the most important things offered by the clubs are exercise, playing and having friends. Bullying Prevention MLL is working to influence the attitudes behind bullying and other violence and to promote the mental and physical safety of children and young people at schools. At MLL, attention is also paid to online bullying and the bullying of under school-age children. The League offers teachers and parents information and tools for preventing and handling bullying. The League also offers support for victims and encourages children and young people to behave in ways that prevent its occurence. MLL is collaborating extensively with other institutions and sectors to develop methods to prevent bullying.