56 social welfare – children 3.6 Social welfare / children’s units Foster care referred to in the Child Welfare Act is organised for children who have been taken into care, placed as an emergency measure, or placed under a temporary court order (children aged 0–17 years) in institutions, in family homes operating under a statutory licence, or in foster care. According to statistics compiled by THL, 6,300 children (mainly those taken into care) had been placed in institutions or similar places in 2016, 2,000 children had been placed in professional foster care, and 7,000 had been placed in foster family care. Under the Child Welfare Act, only children placed in an institution or similar place (including emergency placement) may be subjected to the restrictive measures referred to in legislation. Foster care may be provided by units owned by municipalities, or the municipality responsible for the placement may buy foster care services from units maintained by private service providers. Valvira only holds records on private providers of foster care. The total number of such units is 110 (69 service providers). Visits by the NPM have been made exclusively to institutions or similar units. However, restrictive measures as referred to in the Child Welfare Act are also probably used in foster care within foster families. The situation regarding the supervision of foster family care under the mandates of the NPM or Ombudsman is unclear, as this would require inspections of private households. No such visits have been made so far, but the Ombudsman does have the opportunity to oversee foster care providers through the processing of complaints. All other supervision of foster families falls under the remit of local authorities, whose social service workers have the right to visit private homes. As a rule, during visits to child welfare institutions the aim is to hear resident children before interviewing the personnel of the unit. The children interviewed are assured that they can contact the inspectors if they are subjected to disciplinary or other similar measures following the visit. The personnel are also reminded that any retaliative measures against the children are prohibited. The visits are, as a rule, unannounced and usually last one day. The inspectors typically spend 10–11 hours on site. If the institution is paired with a school or if any issues arising during the visit so demand, the visit lasts two days, with the second day of inspection taking place within a week. The second day of inspection is pre-announced, with the children who have been interviewed also being notified. This has proved a useful practice, as by the second day, the children are more familiar with the inspectors and may encourage children who were unwilling or unable to speak to the inspectors on the first day to agree to be interviewed. The additional, second-day visits are regarded as part of the inspection and are not recorded as separate visits. The visits focus on any restrictive measures to which the children may be subjected and the related decision-making process – including hearing the child and justifying the decision to use restrictions. In particular, the boundary between the restriction on movement and the right or restriction of communication seems unclear for many