At least 65,000 young people at risk of being marginalised

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At least 65,000 children and young people in Finland are in danger of being marginalised form society, calculates the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES).
      The number is said to be growing by about 1,000 a year.
      Helsingin Sanomat asked STAKES for an estimate on the matter, because of the large discrepancies in estimates by various officials. Estimates vary between 14,000 to more than 100,000.
     Marginalisation takes place when a young person falls permanently outside social, educational, and working life, putting him or her in danger of falling prey to alcohol, drugs, and crime.
     The State Auditor's Office estimates that a person who has been marginalised from work incurs over EUR one million in costs to society by the time he or she is 60 years old in the form of lost tax revenues alone.
     In 2001, one per cent of those below legal age had been placed outside their own homes - a total of 15,000 individuals. STAKES says that this group can be seen without a doubt as "the hard core of marginalisation". The number is increasing with each successive year.
     Also at risk are children who are targets of child protective services of some kind, who would desperately need personal care and help.
     
STAKES Director-General Matti Heikkilä feels that the prevalence of mental health problems is a serious portent for future marginalisation. Especially the number of girls aged 13 to 17 in psychiatric hospital care has grown.
     Treatment of disturbed young people in psychiatric hospitals is highest in Eastern and Northern Finland.
     Among girls in the upper grades of comprehensive school, 18 per cent report that they suffer from serious or semi-serious depression. For girls in upper secondary school, the figure is 14 per cent.
     The number of young people going on disability pension under the age of 24 has grown each year. Whereas fewer than 800 young people were put on pension in 2000, the figure was nearly 1,700 in 2006.
     According to the findings of a STAKES report that has not been published yet, the number of young people among those taken into foster care has increased the most proportionally.
      Erik Häggman, a high education authority for the State Provincial Office of Western Finland, complained about the great variation in figures on marginalisation that are given out at different times.
     "When the government earmarked 37 million euros in its budget for the prevention of marginalisation, a need arose to show who were marginalised, and various figures have been put forward for this."
     Häggman himself calculates that as many as 95,000 young people are outside the reach of work and education.
     
A number of projects are underway to help children and young people.
     One working group set up for the current government's term in office is assessing ways to better match up jobs and available labour. Even the working group is unsure how many young people are threatened with being pushed out of the job market, or have already been left without work. The group has concluded that the number cannot be as high as 100,000.
     
A joint project is underway at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health aimed at assessing the situation. Researcher Laura Kestilä has been asked to ascertain who the marginalised and at-risk young people are, and how many of them are there.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Illnesses and marginalisation seen as worst substance abuse problems (14.9.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat