Finnish child welfare divides care orders into voluntary and involuntary care orders, based on the consent or objection of different parties. When giving consent to a care order, the parties allow their rights to family life and self-determination to be restricted. This article examines how the voluntary care order differs in practice from the involuntary one and how voluntarism and involuntarism are represented in these two types of care order. Findings: The analysis of 37 care orders highlights different shades of voluntarism and involuntarism as well as formal and informal spheres of consent and objection. The binary distinction between voluntarism and involuntarism becomes problematic. Instead, new forms and arenas for consent and objection, e.g., resistance, become topical in child welfare. Applications: The spectrum of voluntarism and involuntarism should be recognised in every type of child welfare. The study points out several critical points in the dual decision-making system in Finland, in particular informed consent.

A B S T R AC TMatching describes the process of selecting the substitute home for a child who needs to be placed away from the care of his/her birth parents. However, very little theorizing is done about matching and there is also a lack of systematic investigation into models of practice currently in use. Most importantly, very little is known about frontline matching practices in different socio-historical child welfare contexts. This paper aims to explore the concept of matching by addressing it theoretically and empirically as a decision-making practice in social work. Based on the analysis of phone interviews (49) and focus group interviews (five groups with 18 child welfare practitioners) in Finland, we claim that matching includes a high degree of navigation: decision-making balances between professional discretion, legal norms and principles, subjective views of the children and their parents as well as the economic and bureaucratic conditions of the service provision administration in the municipality. Navigation is shadowed by uncertainty and compromises. The analysis suggests that the notion of matching needs further analysis as it plays an important role in child welfare decision-making. The interplay between frontline practice and the socio-historical context needs to be further addressed.bs_bs_banner

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LAAKSO , R. 1986: Hendersonia acicola in an epidemic caused by Lophodermella sulcigena with special reference to biological control. -Karstenia 26: 49-56.The amount and role of Hendersonia acico/a Tub. in the epidemic caused by Lophoderme//a su/cigena (Rostr.) v. Hohn. was followed on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Fin land . From year to year H acico/a increased on need les primarily infected by L. su/cigena up to the end of the Lophoderme//a epidemic. Hendersonia was fir st abundant in the lower crown, while the upper parts were nearly free of it. The increase of H acicola prevented L. su/cigena from producing ascocarps and led to the recove ry of the trees and stands. L sulcigena could fruit only in those needles which were free of H acicola in the autumn. The autumnal presence of H acicola in the needles led to a natural control of the pathogen. Experiments with H acico/a showed that it is possible to develop biological control against L su/cigena.

This article addresses the ‘temporal black box’ of care by exploring how children and social workers view the first months in care. Although practice and policy are built on time in different ways (for example, long- and short-term care), very little attention has so far been given to the different temporalities included in care. The focus here is on interpretative practices of addressing time instead of describing the use of time or measuring its use. The data consists of interviews with children in care as well as surveys and workshops with social workers in two Finnish municipalities. The analysis highlights children’s temporal agency, and how they navigate between the present, past and future when in care for the first months. Social workers’ view on time is described in particular in terms of organisational and professional time and their clash. In both views, time is deeply interwoven with social relations and systems, so it is argued that the complexity and multidimensionality of time should be recognised in child welfare research, practice and policy.