Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen has issued an extensive decision on a complaint concerning returning a child to a child welfare institution when the child is absent from the institution without an authorisation. The Ombudsman has assessed the executive assistance provided by the police and the powers of the police in relation to the matter, the powers and tasks of the child welfare authorities, and the guidelines given to the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

Firstly, Ombudsman Jääskeläinen considers it obvious that it must be possible to implement a decision made in the child’s interests to take the child into care and place them into substitute care, when the decision determines the place of substitute care and may have been issued by the Supreme Court. However, the legislation currently in force is deficient. Legislation should contain express and specific provisions on the implementation and the powers related to it.

Secondly, the Ombudsman considers it very unsatisfactory that the right of the police to apprehend a so-called runaway child in order to return the child to the child welfare institution is tied to an apprehension warrant, which as such should not have legal effects in this connection.  For example, in a situation where the child’s whereabouts are known and no apprehension warrant is therefore required, the police do not have the right of apprehension. This means that the police are able to provide executive assistance only if social services is kept from carrying out its official duty. This can only be assessed when a representative of social services is present at the location where the child is found. This in turn is difficult to implement in a situation where the child tries to avoid being returned to the child welfare institution by evading the authorities.

The Ombudsman considers legislation severely deficient in this regard. Legislation should have express and specific provisions on the right to apprehend a child in order to return them to a child welfare institution. In the Ombudsman's opinion, the police should have the right of apprehension.

The Ombudsman proposes to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Ministry of the Interior that they should cooperate to take measures to supplement legislation in this respect. In this connection, they should also examine the needs to amend legislation more widely to secure the implementation of a decision on taking a child into care and placing them into substitute care as well as returning a runaway child to the institution. The Ombudsman has requested that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Ministry of the Interior inform him by 30 June 2025 what action they have taken as a result of the proposal. 

As for the police, the Ombudsman has informed the National Police Board of the views he has expressed in the decision and requested it to inform all police departments of the decision. He has requested that the National Police Board notify him by 30 June 2025 whether the decision has given reason for it to take any measures. 

The Ombudsman has also requested that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health inform the child welfare authorities of all wellbeing services counties of the decision. He has also sent the decision to the Emergency Rescue Centre Agency for information.

The full text of the Ombudsman’s decision no 6723/2024 has been published (in Finnish) on the website www.oikeusasiamies.fi.

Further information is available from Senior Legal Adviser Peter Fagerholm, tel. +358 9 432 3372.