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Links and Contacts

This page contains the contact details for the Finnish authorities and different foreign organisations; the main goal for these organisations is to help children. If you for example need help contacting a lawyer in Finland, contacting a legal aid office, the Finnish Bar Association or Kaapatut Lapset will get you a step further.

Authorities and Legal Aid

Ministry of Justice
Unit for International Judicial Assistance
PL 25 00023 Valtioneuvosto
Tel. (02) 951 6001
Fax (09) 1606 7524
Email: oikeusministerio(at)om.fi

Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Legal Service, Unit for Consular Assistance
PL 415, 00023 Valtioneuvosto
Tel. (09) 160 05
Fax (09) 1605 5755
Email: kirjaamo.um(at)formin.fi

The National Bureau of Investigation (Keskusrikospolisi)
Rikostietopalvelu
PL 285, 01301 Vantaa
Tel. 071 878 0141
Faksi 071 878 6536
Email: kirjaamo.keskusrikospoliisi(at)poliisi.fi

Find the contact information of the nearest police station

Online Police Report
Filing a police report which does not require immediate action from the police, such as petty crimes, is something you can do online.

Restraining Order
The Act on Restraining Orders is meant to prevent crimes and make it easier to intervene in case of harassment. A restraining order helps in protecting your freedom, peace of mind, health and life from a person or people who wants to do you harm. It’s also possible to place a restraining order on someone who lives at the same address as you.

A lawyer can be found via the Finnish Bar Association’s search engine. You can limit your search by area of expertise by selecting “Family law, international”.

Public Legal Aid Offices
Legal aid can be received by phone: 0100 86200

Find a lawyer throughout the EU

Parental Child Abduction lawyers in Europe

Cross-Border Family Mediators
Mediators that specialise in child abductions

European e-Justice Portal
Answers on cross-border judicial questions

The European Parliament’s Coordinator on Children’s Rights
The Coordinator seeks to help people experiencing child abductions and other cross-border family disputes.

Supervised Visitation

Information regarding supervised visitations can be found on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s (Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos, THL) website.

Locations in the Apuaeroon.fi service

Information on child welfare.

Lastensuojelu.info
Information in different languages:
Finnish, simple Finnish, English, Swedish, French, Russian, Somali, Arabic, Persian and Kurdish.

The Child Protection Handbook (Lastensuojelun käsikirja, not available in the English language).
The Child Protection Handbook is meant to help professionals who work in child welfare to develop their skills and to develop client services.

Crisis Counselling

Child abduction or the threat of child abduction is always mentally-challenging. It’s important to remember to take care of one’s mental wellbeing and one’s family’s needs. Apart from Kaapatut Lapset ry, help and support is also given from the following organisations:

SOS Crisis Centre
(09) 4135 0510
sos-keskus@mieli.fi
Maistraatinportti 4 A, 4. krs, 00240 Helsinki

Mieli Mental Health Finland (Mieli ry, formerly The Finnish Association for Mental Health)

Victim Support Finland (Rikosuhripäivystys, RIKU)
The aim of Victim Support Finland is to improve the position of victims of crime, their loved ones and key witnesses in crime cases e.g., by producing low threshold support and guidance services.

CRISIS HELPLINES:

The Crisis Helpline’s phone number (in Finnish) 09 2525 0113 is open daily

The Crisis Helplines phone number in Swedish (Kristelefon): 09 2525 0112
Monday and Wednesday                               16.00 – 20.00
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday                    9 and 13.

The Swedish and Arabic helplines offer help in English, too.

The Crisis Helpline’s phone number in Arabic: 09 2525 0113
Monday and Tuesday                                     11 – 15
Wednesday                                                         13 – 16, 17 – 21
Thursday                                                              10 – 15

Both the Swedish and Arabic helplines offer services in English.

More information regarding the Crisis Helplines of Mieli Mental Health Finland

24-hour social services in your municipality (e.g., urgent child welfare issues) and other social and healthcare authorities.

The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (MLL)

Telephone counselling for children and youths: 116 111

Monday – Friday                                               14 – 20

Saturday – Sunday                                          17 – 20

The Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters (Ensi- ja turvakotien liitto)
Asemamiehenkatu 4 A, 7. krs
00520 Helsinki
Tel. (09) 4542 440
Fax (09) 4542 4430
Email addresses: toimisto(at)etkl.fi

More information regarding the mother and child shelters and where the nearest shelter is located

Organizations in different countries

Missing Children Europe

MiKK https://www.mikk-ev.de/ (Cross Border Family Mediation)

Belgium: Child Focus; www.childfocus.de, info@childficus.de

Bulgaria; Centre Nadja, www.centrenadja.com, centrenadja@adv.bg

Spain: Fundación ANAR, www.anar.org

The Netherlands: Centrum Internationale Kinderontvoering; www.kinderontvoering.org, info@kinderontvoering.org

Ireland: Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; www.ispcc.ie, info@ispcc.ie

United Kingdom: Missing People; www.missingpeople.org.uk

Italy: SOS Il Telefono Azzurro; www.azzurro.it

Austria: Rat auf Draht; www.rataufdraht.at, 147@rataufdrach.at

Japan: Japan Children’s Rights Network; http://crnjapan.net

Canada: Missing Children Society of Canada and Missing Children’s Network; https://mcsc.ca, www.missingchildrensnetwork.ngo

Greece: The Smile of the Child; www.hamogelo.gr, info@hamogelo.gr

Croatia: CNZD; www.cnzd.org, info@cnzd.org

Cyprus: Consortium: SPAVO and Hope for Children; www.domviolence.org.cy, info@domviolence.org.cy, www.uncrcpc.org, info@uncrcpc.org

Latvia: Bezvests; www.bezvests.lv, info@bezvests.lv

Lithuania: Missing Persons’ Families Support Centre; www.missing.lt, centras@missing.lt

Portugal: Instituto de Apoio à Criança (IAC) and Associação Portuguesa e Crianças Desaparecidas (APCD); www.iacrianca.pt, iac-seda@iacrianca.pt, https://apcd.pt/web/, apsicologico@ap-cd.pt

Poland: ITAKA; www.itaka.org

France: Enfants Disparus Droit d’Enfance, APEV, La Mouette; www.droitdenfance.org, www.apev.org, contact@apev.org, www.la-mouette.fr, la.mouette@orange.fr

Romania: Salvati Copiii; www.salvaticopiii.ro, secretariat@salvaticopiii.ro

Sweden: Facebook group

Germany and France: Missing Children; www.kinder-nach-hause.de

Germany: Weisser Ring and Initiative Vermisste Kinder; www.weisser-ring.de, info@weisser-ring.de,www.vermisste-kinder.de, info@vermisste-kinder.de

Serbia: Astra; www.astra.rs, sos@astra.rs

Slovakia: Linka detskej istoty, n. o.; www.ldi.sk, info@ldi.sk

Switzerland: Service Social International (Suisse) and Missing Children Switzerland; www.ssiss.ch, www.missingchildren.ch, contact@missingchildren.ch

Czech Republic: Cesta z krize, z. ú; www.cestazkrize.net

Ukraine: NGO Magnolia; www.magnolia.org.ua, tsr@magnolia-tv.com

Hungary: Kék Vonal; www.kek-vonal.hu, info@kek-vonal.hu

The United States of America: The Committee for Missing Children, Inc and the Polly Klaas Foundation; https://findthekids.org, https://www.pollyklaas.org

Other useful websites in English are listed below!

If you need more information about child abduction or family law, the links below may be of use to you and if you need information on a certain country, contacting the country’s embassy may be the next best thing.

Mediation of custody disputes at the district court