Mannerheim League for Child Welfare ( fi, Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto ry (MLL); sv, Mannerheims Barnskyddsförbund rf) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

organization founded in 1920 that promotes the well-being of

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

, young people and families with children. MLL's goal is a child-friendly Finland. It can be attributed to the construction of a comprehensive counseling system in Finland.

History

With these words, General

C. G. E. Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finland, Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the White Guard (Finland), Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as List of reg ...

called on citizens to work to improve the conditions of children. The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare began its activities on October 4, 1920, originally under the name ''General Mannerheim's League for Child Welfare''. The key initiator in the founding was

Sophie Mannerheim Baroness Eva Charlotta Lovisa Sofia (Sophie) Mannerheim (21 December 1863 – 9 January 1928) was a famous nurse known as pioneer of modern nursing in Finland. She was daughter of count Carl Robert Mannerheim and sister of a former Finnish Presid ...

, the sister of the general, the

baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

and the superintendent, who served as vice-president of its federal council from 1920 to 1928. The first chairman of the council was Chancellor E. N. Setälä. In 1920–1960,

Arvo Ylppö Arvo Henrik Ylppö (27 October 1887 – 28 January 1992) was a Finnish physician and professor of pediatrics who significantly decreased Finnish infant mortality during the 20th century. He is credited as the father of Finland's public mat ...

served as chairman of the board. The first secretary (executive director) was

school counselor A school counselor is a professional who works in primary (elementary and middle) schools or secondary schools to provide academic, career, college access/affordability/admission, and social-emotional competencies to all students through a school ...

Erik Mandelin. At the founding meeting of the League, Mannerheim himself initially opposed the proposal that the League be given his name, but he bowed to the unanimous wish of the other participants. Mannerheim knew that

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

, inadequate living conditions,

ignorance Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and understanding. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or even cognitive dissonance and other cognitive relation, and can describe individuals who are unaware o ...

and outright indifference, and the resulting

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that ar ...

, and high

mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...

in children, had contributed to the events of 1917–1918. As a

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

, Mannerheim had found that a large proportion of the country's male youth did not pass a medical examination at call because of their poor physical condition. On the other hand, he also knew that his name was not valued on the losing side of the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, which had ended a little earlier. Attitudes on the left were illustrated by the fact that back in 1927, the then

Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

Tanner Cabinet Väinö Tanner's cabinet was the 14th government of Finland, which existed from 13 December 1926 to 17 December 1927. It was a minority government led by Social Democratic Prime Minister Väinö Tanner. The cabinet's Deputy Minister of Social affa ...

proposed in its budget proposal that the League should receive an additional

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

100,000 for

childcare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

and infant care in border areas. Lasten linna Lastenlinnantie 2-4 - N261128 - hkm

The League's first mission was to prevent

infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...

. The

Children's Castle Children's Castle (''Lastenlinna'') is a children's hospital in Helsinki, Finland. It is part of Helsinki University Central Hospital. The hospital was established in 1917 in the Kallio district of Helsinki. The building was designed by the Fin ...

(''Lastenlinna''), which served as a shelter for single mothers, became the property of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare and its operations were radically changed. At the initiative of Arvo Ylppö, Finland's first counseling center was established in the Children's Castle in 1922. The association, with the help of its sub-associations, built a comprehensive counseling network in Finland, the maintenance of which was transferred to municipalities with the 1944 municipal

maternity ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

and child counseling law. During the Winter War, Winter and

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

s, the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare organized grants for war

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

s through

godparent In infant baptism and denominations of Christianity, a godparent (also known as a sponsor, or '' gossiprede'') is someone who bears witness to a child's christening and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelon ...

s. Under the auspices of the League, a special Warfare Committee was established, which provided a large amount of

funds Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...

, partly from Finland, but especially from abroad, to assist war orphans. The

foreign currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

received as a gift was used to buy

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

from abroad, which were sold at a rather high price with the consent of the

Finnish Government sv, Finlands statsråd , border = , image = File:Finnish Government logo.png , image_size = 250 , caption = , date = , state = Republic of Finland , polity = , coun ...

. As the remit of the Warfare Committee continued to expand, it became a functionally completely independent body of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare in 1944. Nevertheless, the name of the League was retained in the name of the committee at the request of other affiliates. For its part, the alliance also organized transfers of

Finnish war children During World War II some 70,000 Finnish children ( fi, sotalapset, the 'war children' sv, krigsbarn) were evacuated from Finland, chiefly to Sweden, but also to Norway and Denmark.Korppi- Tommola, Aura"War and children in Finland during the Seco ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The independence of the Warfare Committee from the League was not legally completed, which proved fatal when it became clear in 1958 that Mrs. Karin Sauramo, the committee's secretary, had

embezzled Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

more than FIM 30 million in committee funds. It was alleged in public that embezzlement had taken place specifically within the League, and

Ilmari Turja Ilmari Turja (28 October 1901 – 6 January 1998) was a Finnish writer, best known as a journalist and playwright, with a career spanning nearly eight decades from the 1920s to the 1990s. Early life and education Kaarlo Ilmari Turja was born t ...

's ''Uusi Kuvalehti'' magazine, in particular, dropped the issue. As a result of the uproar, Arvo Ylppö, who had been the subject of a violent accusation in connection with Sauramo's case, resigned as chairman of the central government of the League. Mrs. Sauramo was sentenced to a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

, after which the uproar around the League gradually subsided. After the councils moved to

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare focused on training housekeepers and promoting healthy lifestyles. In the 1970s, the union began to develop welfare services in children's

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

, day care, and

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

s. Part of this was starting a

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

activity for a sick child.

Activities

The association offers many services: * Short-term

assistance * Various

peer support Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters (although it can be provided by peers without training), and can ...

groups * Support student and

tutoring Tutoring is private academic support, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides ...

activities *

Summer camps Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

* Telephone for children and young people * Parent phone In addition, the union informs and runs various campaigns to improve children's affairs. The activities are funded by STEA (Assistance Center for Social and Health Organizations) and the Children's Day Foundation, as well as

donation A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as blo ...

s and

fundraiser Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

s. The

Ministry of Education and Culture The Ministry of Education and Culture is a Cabinet position in the governments of several nations. In some nations the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture are separate departments; in others, the Ministry of Education and Culture als ...

awarded EUR 130,000 general grant to youth organizations through the League for Child Welfare.

Sources

References

External links

Mannerheim League for Child Welfare
- Official Site (in English)
The Rehabilitation of Children
at ''MLL'' (in English)
Mannerheims barnskyddsförbund
at ''Uppslagsverket Finland'' (in Swedish) {{Humanitarian partners of the European Commission Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Child-related organisations in Finland Non-governmental organizations Organisations based in Finland Organizations established in 1920

History

Activities

See also

Sources

Further reading

References

External links