Family support services reduce the demand for emergency child removals at the community level

This study aims to examine whether the characteristics of the child protection systems can explain the demand for emergency child removals at the community level. The material of the study consists of Finnish municipalities (N = 292) and their child protection indicators. The study was undertaken by using a conditional process analysis software programme and estimating the regression coefficients in the conditional model. It was found that family support services reduced the demand for emergency child removals. On average, family support seems to be an effective intervention, and also in case of increasing child welfare notifications. The present study underlines the significance of a system-level approach to child protection.