The Finnish Family centre model.
Evaluating and replicating a European best practice in multi-agency prevention
Save the date! October 8, 2026, 14h00 – 16h00
The European Observatory on Family Policy is a joint research programme of COFACE Families Europe and the Centre for Family Studies of ODISEE University of Applied Sciences launched in 2022. The Observatory aims to serve as a platform for the observation, analysis, and dissemination of evidence on family policy and other social concerns directly relevant to family well-being across the European Union. The Observatory is organising an interactive webinar to showcase the Finnish Family Centre model, a European good practice in providing integrated, holistic support for families.
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For over two decades, Finland has been at the forefront of European efforts to coordinate and defragment family support services through a robust, multi-agency network. Over this period, the consolidation of a family centre (perhekeskus) infrastructure has come to represent a structural cornerstone of contemporary Finnish welfare. Currently, nearly 200 family centres operate nationwide, establishing a statutory framework for service integration targeted at families with children. Operating via physical, digital, and network-based modalities, these multidisciplinary entities consolidate early intervention, health promotion, and rehabilitation services. Underpinned by well-developed practices of cross-sectoral professional collaboration, the family centres’ primary objective is to mitigate social exclusion and reduce reliance on intensive interventions by offering targeted, timely support that can simultaneously strengthen family resources and empower peer community networks.
This network is systematically complemented by over 500 low-threshold “open meeting places”. In these spaces, professionals and volunteers collaboratively foster social inclusion, community resilience, and wellbeing for children and youth. The operational synergy between these two institutional pillars forms the foundation of the Finnish model.
The upcoming webinar, hosted by the European Observatory on Family Policy, offers national and local policymakers, social policy researchers, as well as practitioners and service providers, a platform to learn about the architecture and implementation of this prominent European model of cross-sectoral collaboration. Participants will have the opportunity to engage directly with researchers and frontline practitioners to examine the mechanics of integrated service delivery in the context of the Finnish experience.
The event’s objectives are threefold:
- first, to disseminate the core structural features of the Finnish Family Centre model;
- second, to compare how decentralized governance impacts service delivery across various regional administrative units, known as Welfare Counties, and how that can be reconciled with national minimum thresholds;
- and finally, to bridge the gap between policy and practice by connecting international participants directly with local family centre directors.
To address these objectives, the programme is structured into two main sessions. The first part maps out the broader national framework and explores its translation and adaptation across different regional territories, while the second part shifts focus towards “street-level” implementation, offering an empirical look into the daily operations and service integration of local centres. The event will conclude with a forward-look to the Observatory’s forthcoming November publication, Insights on Family Policy, which is entirely dedicated to an account and analysis of the Finnish model.
Registrations will open soon!
