CRC/C/FIN/CO/4
should be given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. This
may include, inter alia, hearing a child under conditions of confidentiality and not in
an open court room, and using video/audio devices. In this regard, the Committee
draws the State party’s attention to its general comment No. 12 (2009) on the right of
the child to be heard.
C.
Family environment and alternative care (arts. 5, 18 (paras. 1–2), 9–11,
19–21, 25, 27 (para. 4) and 39 of the Convention)
Family environment
31.
The Committee is concerned at the high number of children who live with parents
having problems relating to substance abuse and that professionals working with children
do not pay sufficient attention in particular to these children, and often lack practical
knowledge to respond to them. The Committee also reiterates its concern
(CRC/C/15/Add.272, para. 26) at the very long duration of custodial disputes.
32.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Increase resources and strengthen social services providing family
counselling and parent education, and train all professionals working with children,
including social workers and health-care professionals;
(b)
Strengthen preventive services and early support and intervention
measures, particularly with respect to families with problems related to substance
abuse; and
(c)
Enhance family mediation services for parents contemplating divorce,
and ensure that disputes over the custody of children are resolved within an
appropriate time, taking into account the best interests of the child.
Children deprived of family environment
33.
While welcoming that the Child Welfare Act provides more precise provisions for,
inter alia, taking a child into care and urgent placement of children, and requires that
alternative care is provided primarily in small and family-like units, the Committee is
concerned that, in practice, the number of children placed in institutions, including
successive placements, is increasing, that number of foster family care placements is
insufficient and that there is no unified nationwide standards establishing criteria for
placements in alternative care, care planning and regular review of placement decisions,
and that there is insufficient supervision and monitoring of alternative care facilities. It is
also concerned at the lack of effective complaints mechanisms for children without parental
care, including children in institutions. The Committee is further concerned that children in
institutions are not always integrated into mainstream education and do not always receive
the necessary mental health services. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned at the lack
of support for biological families while their children are in alternative care aimed at
reunification of these children with their biological families.
34.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Increase its efforts to ensure that children in need of alternative care are
placed in family-type and foster family care and not in institutions, and take measures
to avoid successive placement of children in public care by, inter alia, increasing the
resources for foster care and support of foster parents;
(b)
Provide training to all professionals working with children in alternative
care settings, including foster parents and supervisors;
7