Legal help(Childrens rights-education and their wellbeing)

Eledi · Post by **Eledi** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 4:23 pm

Hello, i am trying to find some advice and legal help in Helsinki. I am a single mum of 3, we had to move from our house a month a go since my study time ended and so it was necessary to give up the apartment. We have been in the queue for a house since March, we haven't got one yet. The social people helped by putting us into a small hotel apartment (temporary), very expensive one, but the location is like 30kms from kid's schools. They always give a 4 weeks contract as they assume that one might be getting an apartment at anytime.So for the first month we stayed as there was no choice. I contacted the child protection people on what to do and they advised that the kids can do homeworks at home (we get all directions from the teachers via emails) for a month, after that if we have not found an apartment, then the social people can help by moving us to another place where I am able to take the kids to their school easily. Ok, so one week before the end of the month we visited our social worker, she called the hotel apartments company and they had more than 3 other apartments some of them even cheaper and better locations. The social worker had to contact her boss for approval that she can change the place for us. To my suprise, the boss said NO, don't change the place for the them, its just a temporary place, she should just stay there and actively look for a house. I called the child protection people, other heads of the social work department, family clinic and they all said ooh we are very sorry we can't help in this situation.That social office boss has the final say.......So, I am now thinking what should I do next? even if we get an apartment next week or next year, i really want to take this matter forward. It is so unfair, i am not a fin, i am african but my kids are finnish nationals as their dad is a fin and they were born here. I cannot work at all (I just graduated as a nurse and there's lots of work i could do), but now I have to stay home with the kids. The apartment is in an industrial area, no sign of any other kid around, no play park, no school near no nothing. Its not a family friendly area at all. The grocery store is 2kms away. We have to use a bus to go there. The bus stop is 15mins walk from our place.If we took a school here it would be 4.5kms away and a day care is 6kms away. I would love for the kids to continue with their same schools until we get a permanent place to move in then they can change schools. Yesterday i called this housing company and they told me that they have other smaller apartments like 0.5kms from my kids schools but they cannot offer me until the social office approves it because they are the ones paying for it, since I just graduated and I am not working at the moment. I am planning to contact legal offices on Monday. Could any of you have any idea or any advice on what to do? all the authorities i had trusted are saying they cannot help, its not their matter, i should just try to be patient and look for a house actively. All of us knows that it can be very difficult to find a house in Helsinki, I might be forced to wait for 3 months, 6 months or even a year, who knows? and my target is to get a city apartment as they are much cheaper. The social office is now paying around 2000 euros per month for us to stay in this small place which is in the middle of nowhere. Ok, if necessary I could survive here but what about my kids schools? their well being? If i start to wonder around each morning taking them (by bus) to schools and day care, then I will end up reporting to a work place at 9 and then I should close by 3 so i can go and pick them. The only thing that makes me sad is why did the boss refuse for our place to be changed? greedy? racism? punishing me for no good reason? we could have gotten another place where all services are near and it could make our lives much easier, and I could start work soon and release a burden from them.Thank you in advance........

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rinso · Post by **rinso** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 7:39 am

The social office is now paying around 2000 euros per month for us to stay in this small place which is in the middle of nowhere.
.
The only thing that makes me sad is why did the boss refuse for our place to be changed? greedy? racism? punishing me for no good reason?

Being a little paranoid I would say there is a possibility this middle of nowhere place has some connection with the boss (family, friend?)
Leaving you there is an easy income for a place that could otherwise not be rented out.

You are doing all the right things but you face the fact that everybody avoids crossing the boundaries of somebodies responsibilities. Contact the legal office. They probably know what buttons to press.

Eledi · Post by **Eledi** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:36 am

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, i will continue with contacting the legal help tomorrow first thing in the morning, I will also check out that www.ne.ra.fi pages and contact them tomorrow as well. This thing is giving me a headache, i cannot even sleep. I did not expect to be treated like this in a country that claims to the "the BEST" for mothers and children...gosh
thank you, i will give you a feedback on the progress.

Eledi · Post by **Eledi** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 5:57 pm

Hi Cory, i tried to ask for time to go and talk/discuss with that boss directly and the answer from the social worker was NO , its not possible,she is so busy, sorry, this is changing into a "fight", I don't want to be in-between and I cannot go against my boss. Then I said, ok, can i have a paper that says that the boss has said NO to this issues, then she was like, I'll just write it up in the whole decision, but the boss did not write anything special or anything different, she just advised me (social worker) via email to NOT CHANGE your present apartment. That was it....So, i am hoping to get that decision written by the social worker and signed by somebody, then i'll go with that to start the legal process during this week. I heard that sometimes they need to hear a call or get a letter from a lawyer/legal offices before they can react accordingly and behave as humans. Seriously they have pushed me to the edge.....the social worker is also a foreigner may be she's afraid she might loose her job if she does something against her boss or so, who knows? all in all tomorrow i am starting the process of finding help and fighting back, even if it means to seek help from human rights organizations, I will.
I cannot sit and see my children suffer, getting depressed by not going to school. I have also decided that from next week 7th Oct, I will start taking them by bus on that long 30kms trip to school, go somewhere near the school walk around, sit in a library read newspapers/books (buy time) and pick them in the afternoon. Which means that I will not be able to work until the issue is solved. It is so crazy, I will discuss it with the legal office before i start doing it, because the school headmistress already said that 30kms is too long for the kids, they will be too tired everyday, but what can i do?? lets see.....thank you everybody, i'll keep you posted.

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:04 am

because the school headmistress already said that 30kms is too long for the kids, they will be too tired everyday,

This is not uncommon in the countryside where the small village schools are being closed.

go somewhere near the school walk around, sit in a library read newspapers/books (buy time)

Try to get some work in that time (extra help during lunch break?). Even if it is voluntary (because you're on social aid) it will help you with contacts and your own well being. Walking/sitting around in a city doing nothing will get you frustrated quickly.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:16 am

Sounds rather fishy that a head in the social department would make this kind of decision unless there wasn't something in it for her.

The wonders of welfare money. I'm more surprised the police and social aunties haven't showed up and taken the kids into custody. Thats the way for them to deal with "difficult people"...

And for the OP: don't ever go telling you "can't take work" to the TE/KELA (or even Social) or they'll drop you off the unemployment in the wink of an eye.

Eledi · Post by **Eledi** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:19 am

thanks Cory for helping me to explain the situation to Pursuivant. I just graduated as a registered nurse, i studied for 4 good years,i will get work to do, that's for sure....If i take kids to school 30kms away, may be i should start work at 9 everyday and i should close by 3 so i can pick the kids from school on time. That is not possible for any nurse, even if you take only gigs from Seure, you will need to take morning shifts from 7 till around 3. So if my morning shift starts at 7 and my kids schools start at 8.15 ans sometimes at 9, and its 30kms away????!!!!!! I hope you now get my point. I wont just sit around the library and read news papers because i am stupid or cannot think straight or i just love government money,NO, its because of the hours, the inconvenience of the whole situation. Nway, thanks for your comments, I am now trying to take the matter further so i could get legal help.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:13 am

Cory wrote:
OP just graduated from nursing and will not have any probs finding a job.

"Sure", ask from other long term writer in here or all of my nurse friends....

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:42 am

Eledi wrote: The apartment is in an industrial area, no sign of any other kid around, no play park, no school near no nothing. Its not a family friendly area at all. The grocery store is 2kms away. We have to use a bus to go there. The bus stop is 15mins walk from our place.If we took a school here it would be 4.5kms away and a day care is 6kms away.

Well... When i were child grocery store was first 4km away and then 12km away (4km one died). No busses really. Bus stop for daily school was 2min away but anything more was 1 to 3km away. school was 6km away in 1-6 and 3km away 7-9. And yes you had to walk or whatever that 3km. Daycare, thanks to local, was 5km away.
I were in daycare with my granma and after 7 my schoolday was 1km walk (argh, alone!*1) and 10km bus. That changed to 100m walk and 6km bus when i were 8 and my mom moved in with her new husband.
Busses were 9-10 in morning to get childrens in school and same in 14-15 to get them back.

And no play parks, nothing, just woods. I did find friends and nearest were 1km away.
Our "gang" was, if you draw circle, about inside 15km from where we met. I was lucky, only 3km to walk to see other childs.
And to play? We didnt have any playgrounds, our playground was mainly woods.

*1 how alone you can be when basically everyone around is related to you and old people do look from windows and see you walking. Even minor problem and i know there would have been people pouring out from nearby buildings to help me. Or any other in distress.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:47 am

NO, its because of the hours, the inconvenience of the whole situation.

You really don't have any idea how much the system cares of inconveniencing anyone...

biscayne · Post by **biscayne** » Tue Oct 01, 2013 8:39 pm

Not fully related, but regarding getting work as a nurse "no problem" mmmmmmm, has anyone read my posts and Amadine's posts, whereby we, as fully qualified nurses could not even get interviews............. In the end I had to give up and ship out, although it looks like I'm heading north again soon. I'm no Einstein, but I'm presenting the results of a study I've just completed at an international conference this month, so I'm not a total idiot either. But I could not even get interviews for ass-wipe jobs in oldie homes.......... Hopefully the op fares better, one could hardly help but sympathize with her situation.

Eledi · Post by **Eledi** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 12:13 pm

Hello everyone, i understand you. Its not easy to get a permanent job as there are so many nurses and i heard that some do come to Finland from Estonia to work only friday-sunday, so i understand BUT i have been doing lots of work through a private company the only problem is you might work 3 days one place, 2 days another place or sometimes even 5 days 5 different hospitals, but it has been OK with me, its better than nothing. It can keep me going until i find a permanent job, hopefully someday.....
luckily i got a lawyer for my situation and she was so furious about the whole situation and YES she said that i am right, there too much bureaucracy in the situation and she's now sent a letter to start the process, lets see how they reply it, after that we are heading to the court..........if it was only me complaining about this whole whole issue, it would have been something else, but since there are children involved, what they have done to us to far is just "breaking the law" including not giving me a chance to be free and work (when kids are in school). It is their own responsibility to arrange transport for kids to attend school if they cannot provide an apartment near the school, this i didn't know at all. So,at the moment, I am just waiting but things are moving VERY FAST.....as we need to solve everything within October. Thanks for all your advice, its helped....

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:36 pm

scan papers and show us.

Honest · Post by **Honest** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:13 pm

Postby Cory » Fri Oct 04, 2013 4:13 pm

onkko wrote:
scan papers and show us.

What are you talking about? Scan what papers?

Yes, show us your paper, then we will ignore all relevent information, just take out the paper which shows that you are getting 2000 euros in housing support alone, let alone other expenses, and use it for our perussuomalainen propaganda. There will be no mention of the possible corruption of the boss, bad bureaucracy or anything else. It will be all your fault.

I have seen this kind of propaganda on facebook pages, so be very careful about your papers. Those idiots would not even bother to hide your name while posting them on their pages,

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