Project
Jatkos - jälkihuollon yhteiskehittämisellä kohti hyvinvointia, osallisuutta ja sosiaalisia innovaatioita
Project sponsors
Abbreviation
Project type
Focus area
Implementation time
1.6.2024 - 30.11.2026
Financing program
European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) 2021-2027
Project description
The Jatkos project focuses on young people in foster care and aftercare. The project will develop new services and practices that will reform foster care and aftercare services to better support young people's overall well-being and life management. The project will also bring change in the way young people in foster care and aftercare deal with mental health and substance abuse problems by strengthening the role of professionals. The target group of the project includes foster care and aftercare actors and the cooperation network in the Central Finland wellbeing services county. The Jatkos project will be implemented as a group project in cooperation between the Central Finland wellbeing services county and Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. The project has been co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESR+).
The project is based on co-development and dialogue with a young person with experience of foster care and aftercare, clients and the whole ecosystem. The project aims to:
1. to renew aftercare as a multi-professional and holistic welfare-supporting entity by establishing a new easily accessible multi-professional service in the Central Finland region that takes into account the holistic welfare of young people and is located closely into the child protection aftercare team.
2. to develop the operating practices for supporting the independence of young people in foster care and aftercare in the Central Finland wellbeing services county to better take into account their needs and to ensure equal quality.
3. to develop preventive and harm-reducing substance abuse work as part of the foster and aftercare when moving between services by strengthening the competence of foster and aftercare professionals and family carers in the field of substance abuse work.
4. to strengthen the use of empirical knowledge in the development and implementation of foster care and aftercare services. This objective is the starting point and value that permeates all the other objectives and measures of the project.
One concrete outcome of the project will be a multi-professional service and approach to aftercare that supports holistic well-being. The initial name of the service is 'Jälkihuoltoneuvola', which will be evaluated together with the young people during the project. The service will ensure that young people in aftercare do not miss out on the preventive, timely and holistic support they need. The aim is that by the end of the project, the service will have become an established part of aftercare in the Central Finland wellbeing services county and the approach will be transferable to other wellbeing services counties.
The Jatkos project will develop practices to support independence for young people in foster care and aftercare. The project will organise 'Yhdessä aikuisuuteen' development forums and jointly create regional recommendations for supporting independence in foster care. The recommendations will also be tested during the project and will be incorporated into the everyday work of actors in the child protection ecosystem in the Central Finland region.
In addition, the project will provide 'Puhutaan päihteistä' training for foster care and aftercare professionals and family carers to strengthen their competence in substance abuse work. The aim of this training is to increase professionals' knowledge about substance abuse and substance use, prevent health problems and reduce the need for changes in foster care placements.
For more information on the project, please contact:
Erikka Levälahti
Project Manager
p. 050 413 9266
Katja Kokkinen
Project Specialist
p. 0400 976 767