Where to make friends outside the children's home?

Abstract

The purpose of this development thesis was to create a leaflet for the children's home to help the children make friends outside the home. The leaflet was designed to provide contact information for the working life partner and additional information regarding nearby places to take the children living in the children’s home. No names of the children or places were disclosed to ensure the anonymity of the children living there. Two versions of this thesis were made, one for the evaluating teachers and another version for the public in which the descriptive writing about the visits was edited and only shortly explained to avoid any chance of recognizing the children or the location of the places.

During employment at the children's home, it was noticed that the employees did not have a clear understanding of where the children could go after school to make friends and mingle with their peers. The idea behind this thesis is to promote the right for children living in the children’s home to have friends and feel part of this society. It is challenging for children living in children's homes to establish friendships outside of the home.

This thesis covers child welfare, neurodevelopmental disorders, behavior disorders, substitute care, and social relationships. In the thesis, background research was conducted in-depth, and sources were critically analyzed. In implementing the thesis parts, the information provided in the theoretical framework was combined with knowledge gained from visits with the children.

A clear and informative leaflet was designed to be used by employees at the children's home daily. It was intended to provide young children in the children's home with opportunities to make friends outside the home. This was done by visiting different places nearby with the children. Social interaction is essential for children's mental and physical development. It helps them develop empathy and problem-solving skills and build relationships with others. Additionally, it can help to reduce the feeling of loneliness and isolation that comes with living in a children's home.

Considering the feedback received from the working life partner, the leaflet was successful. They thought the leaflet would be useful for employees as it would make it easier to think of places for children to spend time. The working life partner suggested making one for the children as well, and it will be done as soon as possible.