The threshold of child protection notifications is higher in municipalities with a high level of risk factors - Is this evidence of the inverse intervention law?

BACKGROUND

Child protection notifications aim to secure the wellbeing of children. However, there is a large variation in the implementation of notifications across the municipalities in Finland.

OBJECTIVE

This article explores whether the threshold of child protection notifications is higher in municipalities with a high level of socio-economic risk factors, as assumed by the inverse intervention law.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The study is based on the system-level data of Finnish municipalities, and their socio-economic indicators for the period of 2010-2021.

METHODS

A cluster analysis is used to group Finnish municipalities, based on the level of socio-economic risk factors, and a panel regression analysis, to verify whether these factors act as risk factors or as driving forces of inverse intervention law.

RESULTS

The municipalities with a high level of risk factors have the higher threshold level for child protection notifications compared to other municipalities. In all municipalities, the share of single-parent families acts as a risk factor, while the share of residents with higher education acts as a driver of the inverse intervention law. Reduction of unemployment and income inequalities are also recognised as drivers of this law, but only in municipalities with a relatively higher level of risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS

This study promotes the inverse intervention law, and contribute to the understanding of the driving forces of this law. Further, there is a difference in the threshold level of child protection notifications among municipalities which is based on their socio-economic context. Children are in an unequal position in relation to the municipality in which they live.