The Electronic Handbook of Child Welfare in the Systems of the Finnish Welfare State

The Finnish welfare state represents one variant of the Nordic welfare state model. Various solutions provided by the development of information and communication technology have been utilized as means of implementing the welfare state policies and programs. In Finnish child welfare, the electronic handbook is maintained by the National Institute for Health and Welfare under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The purpose of the handbook is to support the practical work in child welfare and the implementation of the Child Welfare Act (417/2007). Since its establishment in 2007, the handbook has provided open access to child welfare information. Currently, the handbook has over 30 000 users monthly.

In this paper, some results of the analysis of the empirical data concerning the development and use of the handbook are highlighted. The data includes three surveys (2010, 2013 and 2016) of user experiences as well as documents and expert interviews related to the creation of the handbook and its further developments. The data covers the period from launching the handbook in 2007, to the ways it is utilized in 2017. The emphasis in this paper is to examine the ways this handbook, as a social and technological innovation, has been and is participating in the systems of the Finnish welfare state.