About

The research addresses transnational child protection, which is an area where little research currently exists. Moreover, the legal frameworks and practical guidelines in this field remain inadequate. The research project is a collaborative initiative between social work and legal sciences and it introduces new insights into transnational child protection for the social work field as well as develops new service pathways, and translates knowledge from ongoing international and national research into practical social work applications.

Background

This research project analyzes transnational child protection cases and looks at how they are identified in social work practice, and what procedures are involved. Additionally, we examine the political and social struggles related to transnational child protection and how the best interests of the child is determined in complex transnational cases. We focus particularly on how authorities understand cross-border situations when interpreting and applying various regulations as well as how legislation aligns with social work field realities. We are also interested in networks of actors which are involved in managing cases of transnational child protection.

Impact

The research findings will be implemented in practice through a training program for child protection professionals in wellbeing services counties and by developing a service pathway model for cross-border child protection. In disseminating the results, the research team will collaborate with professionals from the Finnish League for Human Rights working on honor-related violence.

Funding

The research has been funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health‘s grant for university-level social work research during 2022-2024. Additionally, the project outputs have benefited from contributions by the NOS-HS-funded network Transnational Childhoods, Transnational Rights? Nordic Responses to Global Challenges in the Field of Child Protection (2021-2023), and the Academy of Finland-funded project Children Abroad: A Relational Analysis of Finnish Child Protection and Welfare in Transnational Contexts (2021-2024, PI Sanna Mustasaari).

Partners and co-operators

The project is led by Professor Joa Hiitola from Tampere University. The subprojects are led by Associate Professor Sanna Mustasaari from the University of Eastern Finland and Associate Professor Maija Jäppinen from the University of Helsinki. The Finnish League for Human Rights also participated in the project.