The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare

The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare

Vision for our work is: Every child is entitled to a good and

happy childhood. The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare works to make this possible together with many other organizations, both public and private

History

Founded in 1920 Founders: General Carl Gustaf Emil

Mannerheim, Ms Sophie Mannerheim, Doctor Arvo Ylppö

MLCW is a pioneer in promoting a culture of parenting and education

MLCW guards the importance of childhood

MLCW is an active contributor to the Finnish welfare state

The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare

MLCW is an NGO Membership is open to everyone MLCW promotes the wellbeing of children

and of families with children, increases respect for childhood and seeks to make it more visible

MLCW sees that children's views are taken into account in public decision-making.

Financing

The income of the league originates from Membership fees Slot Machine Association Other public organisations Donations Sponsorship activities

Annual budget is approximately 7 million euros

Goals and purpose of projects

The work of the MLCW is mostly preventive.

We focus strongly on the relationship between child and their parents.

We see the family as a solid ground for child’s welfare.

In Finland where the internet access is one of the highest in the world it is natural to develop projects into the web.

One of the main ideas is to offer services and information free of charge.

New projects

”Tools for every Home” is a project to support the self-motivated coping of the families with children under 12 years of age.

The project is completed and is in full use in the internet.

Project includes self help tools to help solve problems in everyday life and to decrease uncertainty related to parenthood.

self-evaluation test 8 workbooks 20 different printable agreements for

families parenting-quiz information pages discussion board

Workbooks

How to cope with child’s fears How to support a child with problems with learning How to take care of your relationship with your

spouse A workbook for parent to increase parent’s self-

knowledge and self-confidence Children and new media A guided diary for the time of pregnancy and the

first year with the child A model for family evenings at home The workbook for grandparents

The materials are based on cognitive theory, solution-focused methods and on theories of health promotion.

The methods are practical, workable and easy to use.

The tools are also used by professionals and volunteers.

Parents and young who are becoming independent

A project to support the self-motivated coping of the families with youth from age of 13 to 18 years.

The project picks up where the “Tools for every home” ended.

The aim of the project is to help parents solve the problems by themselves through given information and knowledge.

At the moment the project is in the starting point, collecting test parents to survey the needs.

This project will also include self-evaluation test, workbooks and broad information pages.

There will be separated tests and information to parents and youth, but these will be used at parent’s initiative.

This result of the project will also be used by parents, professionals and volunteers.

“Impact”- Improving Parents Competences

EU funded a two year project 2007-2008 which is directed to parents with children from age of 3 to 10 years.

Main co-ordinator is Erlangen-Nűrnberg University from Germany, other participant counties are Turkey, Romania, United Kingdom and Finland.

UK: Phil Taverner, ptaverner@nspcc.org.uk

Families are exposed to many pressures. In the light of the complex changes taking place in modern society, they must master the ever harder task of raising healthy, socially competent and capable young people.*Parents own pressures*Insecurity *Excessive strainsIn situations of powerlessness, they might use physically or psychically damaging punishment.

In order to prevent such developments

Strengthen the educational competences Support firm parental practices in general

Other obstacles for parenting support are:

*time constraints

*lack of mobility

*lack of anonymity

*problems in face-to-face contacts in personal subjects.

Little emphasis has been put on the fact that parents of lower socio-economic status (SES) take little advantage of such parenting training, because they rarely attend such courses or, if they attend them, they drop out very quickly (Assesmany & McIntosh, 2002).

Therefore IMPACT aims to great parenting courses, which are;

*Tailored to the needs of those parents (SES)

*To have low usage barriers

*Simple course instructions

*A significant number of parents from the same background.

Continued mutual exchange of experiences and know-how among parents and expert support will be accomplished by online e-course and by parents discussion board.

A virtual course system consisting of six scenario-based modules.

The modules will be:

1. How can parents strengthen their children's self-confidence?

2. How do parents make effective demands (i.e., modes of asking and demanding)?

3. How to explain rules and to set limits?

4. How to handle family stress and difficult parenting situations?

5. How to proceed with stressful educational situations?

6. How to support children's friendships?

Every module includes an analysis and reflection of one's own situation, scenario-based assessment, relevant information on the topic, and an evaluation section.

An implementation guide will be made. Technical base is on ILIAS, which is a

open source base.

Other parenting programmes in MLL

Local Associations(565)

• are mostly based on volunteer work

• arrange activities

• meet the families with children

• influence on local circumstances

Family activities

• Family cafés

• Peer support

• Groups for parents

• Clubs for children

• Special events for children and families

DistrictOrganisations

(13)

• offer professional and regional support to local associations

• organize trainingsfor vounteers

Central Organisation

in Helsinki

• coordinates and developes new activitiesand training programs

• supports localassociations and

distric organisations

The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (MLL)Family and child function

Key success factors

Key success factor in parenting programmes is a need to be aware of the current social situation of the families.

* At the moment families social networks are not that strong and the relatives are not as close as they used to be.

*Many children live in extended families or in a family with one parent.

*Biological grandparents are not an active part of the family.

* Problems in relationships are common in young families.

Peer support – joint experiences and empowerment for families

One of our most important missions is to strengthen the bonds between families, give them the opportunity to get together and share ideas and common experiences.

Family cafés bring families together

In Family cafés parents have a possibility for forming mutual assistance networks to comfort everyday life. Moreover children have fun things to do, make friends and learn how to get along among themselves. Activities may also be focused on special groups, for example immigrants.

Communal grand parenting

Being together with different generations enriches both children’s and adult’s life

The aim is to create possibilities for three generations to get acquainted and act together.

In the activities of the MLCW grand parenthood is understood more broadly than only biologically.

Also those senior citizens who have no grandchildren get an opportunity experience grand parenthood, the deepness and tones it brings to life.