This presentation provides a historical overview of the development of care and education for deaf children in Finland. Like in other European countries in the 19th century, welfare and educational provisions in Finland were first made for the deaf and blind children. The German school of deaf education with oralism and eugenic ideology impacted the community well into the 20th century. The use of sign language was banned in schools for the deaf until the 1970s, and eugenic-based laws such as the Marriage Act (1929–1969) and the Sterilization Act (1935–1971) were aiming to eliminate the reproductive health rights of those deemed unfit for society. I will also examine more broadly the changing paradigms that happened along with the socio-economic transformations throughout the 20th century. Traditionally an agrarian society, Finland´s first system of care in the 19th century listed a variety of “crippling conditions” that could entitle a person to receive outside help from the local municipality through the system of foster care on "farmhouses."