According to the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia, the fact that it is not possible to provide a child with withdrawal from the family and adequate support in all or many areas of life, when it is in his best interests, is not in accordance with the provisions of Article 56 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. The competent ministries accept the position of the Ombudsman, but this does not guarantee that children's rights will not be violated.

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The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) also received several complaints in 2024 that touch upon the major problem of solving the problems of children who need to be removed from the family environment to an appropriate expert centre. In some cases, the court has already made decisions to place the child in a expert centre, but these have not yet been implemented. As a result, children are kept in an unsuitable environment, be it at home or in crisis centres, which otherwise only allow short-term accommodation for a maximum of 21 days and are not a suitable solution for the permanent placement of children. The duration of placement of children in crisis centre has been increasing since 2020. A crisis placement is supposed to be short-term, and accordingly the set of services that the child or young person receives during the placement is determined, i.e. first social assistance and personal assistance. During the placement, the crisis centre does not provide the contents that are otherwise determined by the institutional care of children and minors deprived of a normal family life. This kind of accommodation does not allow upbringing, education, preparation for life, and replacing the function of the home, which is otherwise the content of other forms of placement in institutional care. Longer placements in crisis centres cannot be in the child's best interests.

The Ombudsman checked the activities aimed at solving the described problem with the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs (MDDSZ) and the Ministry of Education and Training (MVI).

The MDDSZ warned that the issue is extremely complex and requires a set of systemic measures that would touch both the legal proceedings of placing children as well as the direct issue of the systemic regulation of each type of placement of children in institutional care. These contents fall under the jurisdiction of various line ministries. Since the decision-making of the courts and the appropriate dynamics of procedures for the protection of children's interests are also extremely important when deciding on the placement of a child, the MDDSZ undertook to take care of additional training, the aim of which would be that the locally competent centres for social work [F. S., U.1] prepare detailed opinions of the highest possible quality, which would provide the courts with sufficient information about the family and the benefits of the children. The MDDSZ also explains that one of the possible forms of placement is the placement of a child in foster care. In practice, however, certain systemic deficiencies are detected, so systemic changes are being prepared – (1) both from the point of view of an appropriate amount of foster care and payment of work for the foster parent (taking into account the fact that the fostering activity is unprofitable) and from the standpoint of regulating the legal position of the foster parent's spouse or common-law partner, ensuring further placement for adults who remain in to the foster family due to the continuation of schooling in the event of exceptional circumstances on the part of the foster parent – as well as (2) from the point of view of the regulations for expert workers of locally competent centres for social work (how many children and foster children can be covered by one expert worker) and in view of other system amendments to the regulation, as well as additions to the information system. The MVI explained that they ensured that the expert centres had acquired additional spatial and personnel capacities. In order for their work to be even more professional, the Educational Programme was also renewed with guidelines for dealing with crisis situations, and efforts are also being made to expand the medical support staff. Mobile teams of expert centres also actively help schools, parents, and kindergartens in dealing with children with emotional and behavioural problems. The MVI has already updated the necessary norms in this regard.

The number of children and adolescents placed in expert centres is increasing year by year. In the last five school years, the number of those placed has increased by more than ten per cent. The number of intensive groups in which children and adolescents are placed, who due to prognostic assessment and more difficult problems, need more specialised help or therapeutic treatment in a small group or individually has also increased (almost tripled in the last five years). The number of educational and residential groups also increased. The MVI explained that they are in daily contact with the directors of the expert centres and that the issue is discussed at the active meetings of the association of managers of the expert centres. The MVI believes that its activities in solving problems in the field of upbringing and education of children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural problems are solved very actively, but at the same time it also points out that, despite the diligence in solving the mentioned problem, all the capacities of the expert centres are very busy. Even if the ministry and principals were to find additional, new premises, there are no suitable experts on the labour market who would carry out educational work in the new locations.

The Ombudsman does not judge the activities of the competent authorities in solving the problem, nor does he determine whether the reasons for the problems are valid, justifiable, or understandable – the Ombudsman can only determine that all of the above cannot be of help to a specific child who urgently needs appropriate intervention by the state, which, according to the provisions of Article 56 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, commits itself to special protection and care for each child, not just a part or most of them. 8.5-2/2024

 [F. S., U.1]The addition of local authorities is only because it would otherwise be necessary to write Centre for Social Work with a capital letter, and this would also be in conflict with the fact that the Centre for Social Work is the name of an authority that has several locally competent units throughout the country, and writing the plural form Centre would be meaningless.)