Many young immigrants in the Helsinki region have sought help at emergency shelters when conflicts within the family prove overwhelming. Last year 20% of the customers at the Helsinki shelter maintained by the Finnish Red Cross were immigrants. Family therapist Merja Hakala says that the number is growing all the time.

   

"We have 3 to 4 customers every evening, and at least one immigrant is usually among them."

   

Also, nearly all residents of the separate apartments maintained by the shelters are young immigrants.

   

In Vantaa about 20% of the young people seeking help at that city’s emergency shelter are immigrants.

According to Hakala

the problems of immigrant families mainly involve cultural conflicts.

   

"Finnish customs clash with the parents’ moral standards and upbringing. When they reach their teens, the children want to live like their Finnish friends. Going to discos, using alcohol, or dating before marriage are strictly taboo in many cultures."

   

Hakala says that the conflicts can escalate to the point of corporal punishment. In some cases a staunchly Muslim family might not even want a child who breaks the rules to come back home.

   

The Helsinki shelter on Uudenmaankatu has provided a temporary refuge for many Somali and Russian immigrant children.

There has been an overall increase

of young people seeking shelter of all backgrounds.

   

Usually the main reason that young people will seek shelter involve problems within the family. Sometimes the issue is the parents’ use of intoxicants or mental health difficulties. Economic difficulties and cramped housing aggravates the problems.

   

Most of the teenagers seeking shelter are girls. Hakala says that girls will often seek help in the early stages of a family crisis, while boys will usually wait until the situation becomes absolutely intolerable.

   

There have been cutbacks in funding for psychiatric services for young people. Hakala also believes that working hours, which keep parents away from home from morning to evening, are one reason for the increased feelings of insecurity among young people.

"Children are picked

up from day care at four in the afternoon, but people often forget that adolescents also need their parents’ time."

   

Hakala says that mental health problems among teenagers have increased. She also says that kids use more and stronger intoxicants than before.

   

According to the rules of the emergency shelter customers must be sober.