Man taken into care as a child speaks out about what saved him

A 9-year-old boy sits on the stairs, flipping through a Donald Duck comic, crying after his mother who has just left. This was Jonne Pankinaho’s introduction to life in a Finnish institution called a “perhekoti” — a family home in name only, reports Yle.

In such places, he says, it was difficult to rebuild trust in unfamiliar adults. Some staff listened, while others treated their shifts as just a job.

Now 25, Pankinaho publicly processes his past on an Instagram account called Sijoitettu (Placed), aiming to dismantle prejudices against children and youth in care. A turning point in his own story came at 13, when he was placed with a private foster family — a rare outcome in Finland.

Although Finland has sought to increase family-based care, older children are often placed in institutions, even when changing care arrangements. Family-based care in child protection is primarily provided through foster families or professional family homes.

According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), insufficient oversight of family-based care is one reason it has not developed as extensively as in other Nordic countries. In Norway, 90% of alternative care is family-based, compared to just over 50% in Finland.

Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman Mikko Sarja has launched an investigation this summer into how well regional authorities are fulfilling their oversight responsibilities in family-based care.

Pankinaho’s mother, who had struggled with mental health issues, first came under child welfare notice when he was one year old. She had left an abusive partner but found single parenthood overwhelming.

By age five, Pankinaho was spending days at school and evenings with a support family. Eventually, he was placed in an institution where staff, not parents, managed daily life. The unpredictability of adult presence made it hard to form secure attachments.

“A child can’t build a bond with a safe adult if they have to wonder whether that adult will show up for work or ever come back at all,” he says.

Legislation in 2016 clarified that professional family homes must provide round-the-clock care, with family carers present at all times. Yet in Pankinaho’s experience, the 14-bed “family home” housed children from diverse, often difficult backgrounds, where bullying and violence went unreported to staff.

He recalls black eyes and an incident at school where another boy kicked him in the stomach while he lay on the floor. He repeatedly insisted he wanted out. “I don’t want this robot life anymore,” he blurted during a care planning meeting. A social worker finally took notice, and a foster family placement was arranged.

Finland is currently reforming its child welfare and social care legislation, with the second phase now under review. The Finnish Union of University-Educated Social Workers (Talentia) warns that financial pressures on regional authorities could lead to unequal access to services.