Five years ago, the first seasonal panhandlers arrived in Finland from Romania, often accompanied by their young children. The Finnish public was put off by the phenomenon, and officials eventually intervened to remove the young panhandlers from the streets. Today, beggars who come to Finland to ply their trade tend to leave their children behind.
Nowadays a fresh wave of itinerants from Bulgaria has brought their young charges along as they collect returnable bottles and look for work. For the most part they live in their cars, accompanied by their children.
The city of Helsinki has however decided that collecting bottles and living out of cars is not suitable for young children. Authorities plan to inform the Bulgarians that Finland does not tolerate child labour, nor will it allow children to live in automobiles.
Lead Helsinki social worker Jarmo Räihä told Yle that the goal of the information campaign is to encourage the return of families to their home country as soon as possible.
”Children shouldn’t have to live out in the open like that,” Räihä said.
However, Marjatta Vesalainen, who works with the panhandlers and returnable collectors at the Hirundo centre said the children are thriving in Helsinki.
“They are quite lively, well cared-for and healthy children. At least I would not recommend that they be taken into care. That would be a traumatic experience, to be away from their parents among people speaking a strange language. On the other hand, their situation is worrying, including the fact that they gather bottles at night,” she said.
Custody an extreme measure
All the same, city authorities have no intention of removing the youngsters from their parents’ care. They simply want to ensure that the community of travelers abides by Finnish law.
“Taking the children into custody is extreme. Our starting point is that we inform them that children should not be gathering bottles. A vigorous information campaign was used with the Romanians, for example. They should leave the children with the grandparents or other family members while the adults travel here,” Räihä said.
For her part, Vesalainen hopes to see a comprehensive information session that would be attended by city representatives, who would explain how children should be treated.