President Zoran Milanovic said on Tuesday that people in charge of the social care system should admit mistakes and take the responsibility for the death of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl caused by domestic violence, adding that there should be a separate government department for social care.

“Yet another tragedy, the death of a girl from Nova Gradiska, caused by domestic violence, has again raised the issue of the efficiency and quality of the social care system in Croatia, in particular care for children,” Milanovic wrote on Facebook.

He said that this case, for which full responsibility is yet to be established, requires a “serious, systematic and immediate intervention” in the regulation governing social care for those most vulnerable, the children.

“It is questionable whether the present system, which is neglected, can achieve that. The fusion of government departments to give an impression of efficiency has brought about even greater negligence and an absence of supervision from the political, ministerial level,” the President said.

He expressed hope that the people in charge of the social care system would have the strength to admit mistakes and take the responsibility, adding that this would be a clear signal that they recognized the problem and wanted to deal with it.

He said that the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy should finally start listening to and respecting the opinions and advice of educated and experienced people in caring for the well-being of children. The laws and regulations that will be enacted in the future must give priority to children’s safety, Milanovic said.

He concluded by saying that he was deeply convinced that social care should be a department unto itself rather than integrated into a “non-functioning mega-ministry” as was now the case.