Family and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrovic on Thursday condemned an incident which happened at the Ivanic Grad Social Welfare Centre, when a disgruntled beneficiary tried to attack a social worker but was prevented by a security guard.

Aladrovic warned that over the past few days tensions in the social welfare system had been running high, noting that physical attacks were not acceptable and that no social challenge could be resolved by force.

He said that according to available information, the incident was prompted by a decision to separate children from their family.

“Let us refrain from inappropriate comments, acts or social influence… isolated cases and tragedies cannot be used as a pretext to attack the entire system, especially not to physically attack workers who do their job responsibly,” he said.

Asked when one could expect findings of an inspection in the Nova Gradiska Social Welfare Centre, which was in charge of the case of a 2-year-old girl who recently died as a result of domestic violence, Aladrovic said that the ministry expected to have the findings next week.

He denied “media speculation” that children’s homes had insufficient capacity, noting that his ministry would publish information on their capacity.

Aladrovic also said that the future reforms would be aimed at deinstitutionalising care for children without parental care to give foster families a bigger role.