Marketization of residential care for children in official documents

Authors

• Heikki Ranta Tampereen yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30668/janus.120061

Abstract

Residential care for children in Finland is provided mainly by private actors. This study analyzed how private actors and markets in residential care have manifested in legislation and official documents between 1980 and 2020. Documents were analyzed using Richard Scott’s institutional pillar theory. The key result is inconsistency and continuity at the level of the different pillars. Deregulation of residential care has been followed by re-regulation and control. Several reasons behind the existence of private actors have been noted, but above all they have been interpreted as complementing and diversifying public service production, providing professional residential care and offering special services. Perceptions about private actors and markets have been conflicting. They have been interpreted as a threat to the quality of service and service-users. On the other hand, they have also been seen positively as non-governmental organizations. Marketization has been a major change in social policy that has not been deliberately pursued in the light of the analysis.