Immigrants

Kuvituskuva

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Social services for immigrants

The immigration team of the social service office is in charge of the social work and integration of immigrants. The team includes two social workers and one social instructor. The focus is on immigrants who have arrived in Finland as refugees.
The team’s duties include

  • supporting integration
  • reinforcing the clients’ functional abilities and independent coping
  • advising and guiding in matters related to e.g. livelihood, education, work, housing, residence permits and family reunification
  • supporting parenthood and giving guidance in matters related to children’s day-care, schooling and hobbies.

The team works together with e.g. family services, day-care centres, schools, healthcare services, the congregation and different associations. The Finnish Immigration Service, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Southwest Finland, Kela and the rental apartment office of Raisio are also the team’s key partners.

The team also strives to develop immigration work in a more general level, promote the cooperation and information exchange between the different operators and increase understanding about multiculturalism.

Advice is available both in Finnish and in the client’s own language.

The advisory service is available in the City of Raisio’s service point and Olkkari on Wednesdays from 10 am to 12 noon during the spring season. (Raisiontori 6, next to the pharmacy). First, people will come together to receive information and discuss various subjects (At home in Raisio programme, see the attachments). After this, the participants are offered private guidance about matters related to e.g. social security, family, education and work. A worker from the immigration team of the social services office will be present, as will a Pop Up service guidance worker from the Opetuskoti Mustikka (sateenkaarikoto.fi) home teaching unit.

Immigrants living in Raisio can also visit the Infotori information service in Turku. Infotori offers advisory services in 14 different languages. Infotori (turku.fi) is a service provided by the City of Turku and located in Turku, in the Skanssi shopping centre.

Early childhood education and school offer support to immigrant children

Early childhood education and preschool education have an important role in a child’s integration and in preparing the child for schooling. Immigrant children usually go to a day-care centre in their local area. Reinforcing the child’s Finnish language skills, cooperation with the parents and supporting the parents in teaching the child their own native language are central parts of the work.

Teaching that prepares immigrant children for compulsory education has been arranged at Friisilä lower stage comprehensive school. This preparatory teaching lasts for one school year, after which the pupil will continue their schooling on a regular grade in their local school.

Promoting a child’s bilingualism is important both to the child’s overall development and their schooling. Native language teaching is offered in Albanian, Bosnian, Persian, Somali, Russian and Estonian. Finnish as a second language is taught to every immigrant child during the school day or as additional classes.

At the moment, classes on religion other than Evangelical Lutheranism are available for Islam, Roman Catholicism and Orthodox.
The website of the Finnish National Agency for Education offers additional information about the teaching of students with immigrant backgrounds.

Underage young people who arrived in the country without a guardian

Over the years, Raisio has received minors who have arrived in the country without a guardian. Young people who arrived alone have a special need for support and guidance. A personal guidance worker will be appointed to these young people by the child welfare organisation Ehjä ry (ehja.fi), the Federation of Special Welfare Organisations.

Education for adult immigrants

The adult immigrants living in Raisio will participate in various training events available in the Turku region:

  • integration training focuses on learning Finnish and provides information about Finnish society. These courses are labour force training, and you can apply for them through the Employment Office.
  • Comprehensive education for adults focuses on Finnish and comprehensive school subjects. This kind of education is available at Turku Vocational Institute, Turku Christian Institute and Loimaan evankelinen opisto evangelical institute.
  • preparatory training for vocational education (Finnish abbreviation: ‘valma’) improves the opportunities of being selected for vocational studies in Finland.

More information about the training available to adult immigrants can be searched on Studyinfo (studyinfo.fi). Through the course search (finnishcourses.fi) you can find more information about Finnish and Swedish language courses in the Turku, Helsinki and Tampere regions.

Language teaching and information about Finnish society to immigrants staying at home

Immigrant parents taking care of a child at home or immigrants waiting for a course to start can participate in free-form Finnish language and Finnish society studies. Teaching is available at Satelliitti family centre and the Raisio congregation. A Finnish language group for stay-at-home mothers is held twice a week at Satelliitti family centre. The teaching will be arranged collaboratively by Raisio-opisto, Satelliitti family centre and the social services office. The social services office also arranges information events and discussions about various topics.
The Raisio congregation offers Finnish language teaching twice a week. Both men and women are welcome to the congregation’s language groups.
Immigrant families are also welcome to all other activities of Satelliitti family centre (mll.fi).

Towards employment

Finding employment is an important aspect of a successful integration process. Often, finding a job requires vocational studies in Finland or supplementing a vocational competence or degree acquired in the country of origin. For many, the path to finding employment goes through work experiments and wage-subsidised jobs.
You can get support for finding employment at the Employment Office (te-palvelut.fi) and through various projects, such as Baana (baanalla.fi), which promotes the employment of immigrants.

Recreational activities supporting integration

Associations and parties providing recreational activities can facilitate meetings between different people and promote tolerance. A hobby can help both adults and children settle in their new home municipality and find friends across language borders. Immigrants will be guided to hobbies and associations based on their own interests.

Raisio-opisto (Opistopalvelut.fi) organises courses that are open to all. The institute also holds Finnish language courses for immigrants. In the art school of the institute, children and young people have the opportunity to create and experience art.

Raisio Library offers many services to customers from various language backgrounds. The library has e.g. children’s books in different languages and also an opportunity to read foreign magazines. The library also offers materials for Finnish language and societal studies. 

Ulpukka Swimming Centre is also a favourite of many immigrants. MIHI (mihi.fi) sports classes offer all 13–19-year-old young people the chance for free-of-charge sports hobbies.

Several clubs and associations also operate in Raisio and offer further recreational opportunities.

The Raisio congregation (raisionseurakunta.fi) is an active operator in immigration work. Immigrants are all welcome to the congregation’s Finnish language courses and events, regardless of their religious background.

Other religious communities, such as Islamic congregations, also operate in Turku.

Turku has cultural associations of immigrants in their own language, and Raisio residents are also welcome to take part in them.

You can learn more about the language and culture associations in the Turku region from the websites of Sondip member organisation (sondip.com), Pisara association (yhdistysavain.fi) and the DaisyLadies (daisylaidies.fi) organisation.

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