Home service for families with children – concrete support for everyday life and coping

The family of Peppi Puljujärvi from Kirkkonummi received the home service on the advice of a maternity and child health clinic, after her everyday life had become stressful due to unexpected events and the lack of a support network. The service was launched quickly and provided the family with concrete relief.

The home visits enabled having discussions, managing affairs and taking a rest. The family's child got to know safe adults, which made their later transition to day care easier.

- This felt like an immense relief at that moment, even though the visits really only took place a few hours a week. It allowed my husband and me to take some time to sort things out without having to focus all our attention on the baby.

Puljujärvi feels that families should not wait too long to contact the Everyday support services for families with children.

- I am glad I did not wait too long to seek help. I am pretty certain that my timing was right for ensuring that I still had my functional capacity. If I had waited longer, I am sure that the situation could have become worse, at which point the services we needed would have been different.

Home service employees find their work meaningful. Heidi Nybom follows her calling as a home service worker working with families with children in Kirkkonummi.

- It is highly rewarding to see at the concrete level how families feel less burdened, and their daily lives get easier. Individuality, trust and open discussions are emphasised in the work.

The recipients of the home service for families with children currently include many families with babies. Indeed, it is a natural point in time for parents to receive support and guidance when their child is a baby.

- The assessment of the family’s situation starts during the initial contact by telephone, and this discussion continues during the first visit. During each visit, the family is asked about how they are doing and receives support based on their current situation.

During the home service worker’s visit, the parent(s) may take a rest or manage their issues outside the home. The worker spends time with the child or children at the family’s home or, for example, takes them to a residential park or a playground.

Marjo Korpela and Anne Vornanen-Mitrunen, who work for home services in Espoo, have seen a change in families’ needs during their careers. Both have long experience working with children.

Home service is a preventive form of support that can deter fatigue and strengthen the family’s resources. The employees emphasise that it is a good idea to seek help on time.

- It is easier to provide help when a family’s problems are still minor. Clients often think, perhaps surprisingly, that there is always someone else needing more support – but everyone’s situation is important, and you should not compare it with anyone else, Korpela says.

One phenomenon that needs to be taken into account, especially in Espoo, is the fact that the home service clients have become increasingly multicultural. More and more families speak a language other than Finnish or Swedish. As home service workers, Korpela and Vornanen-Mitrunen get to participate in the families’ everyday lives, and working with foreign-language families can be considerably different.

- Immigrant mothers do not usually leave their home, but, instead, wish to get time for rest, joint discussions or sorting things out. The service also acts as a medium for conveying societal information, Korpela says.

- You can be prepared to tell the clients about a wide variety of things, and also look for information for them online, says Vornanen-Mitrunen.

Both find it important to let their clients know about the website of our wellbeing services county, which is available in 11 languages. A separate online service has been created for immigrants with the aim of providing information about the services available to residents using language that is as clear as possible.