The Protector of Citizens, on his own initiative, based on information from the media that the police in Belgrade arrested a father for neglecting and abusing his five children, whom he forced to beg, requested information from the Centre for the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking on the handling of this case and from the Third Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade to inform him about the circumstances of the father's deprivation of liberty.

Regarding the same case, the Protector of Citizens, on his own initiative, launched an investigation to control the regularity and legality of work of the Belgrade City Centre for Social Work and the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography.

The Protector of Citizens requested from the City Centre for Social Work in Belgrade to inform him within 15 days about the actions of the competent department of the Centre for Social Work in this case and the measures taken by that body to remedy the possible omissions, and from the competent ministry to conduct, within the same period, supervision over the professional work of the competent CSW department and to report to him on the actions taken in the specific case.

The Protector of Citizens launched a control investigation into the legality and regularity of work of the General Hospital "Dr. Laza K. Lazarevic" in Šabac and the Ministry of Health, after learning from the media that a newborn died at the University Children's Clinic in Tiršova Street in Belgrade on 10 January, after an emergency transport from the maternity ward of the General Hospital "Dr. Laza K. Lazarevic" in Šabac due to breathing problems.

The baby's father expressed his suspicion on social networks that the child's death was due to doctors' negligence, and the media reported the announcement of the Minister of Health that on 16 January 2023, an emergency inspection of the entire case will be conducted. The Šabac hospital indicated that a commission has already been formed that will carry out an internal check of the quality of professional work.

The Protector of Citizens asked the Ministry of Health to inform him of all the facts and circumstances relevant to the adoption of a position on this case within 15 days from the date of receipt of this document, and in particular, to submit the data on the results of the extraordinary inspection of the work of the General Hospital "Dr. Laza K. Lazarevic" in Šabac, which was announced.

It is also necessary for the General Hospital "Dr. Laza K. Lazarevic" in Šabac to submit data on the conducted internal quality control of professional work, no later than 15 days from the date of receipt of this document.

In addition, the Protector of Citizens asked the hospital and the Ministry of Health to inform him how patient satisfaction is monitored and analyzed in the maternity hospital in Šabac, and whether women giving birth have the opportunity to rate their satisfaction with the actions of the medical staff towards them and in what way.

After the conducted control investigation, the Protector of Citizens identified omissions in the work of the Centre for Social Work in Kruševac and issued recommendations. Acting on the complaint of one of the parents that his children were forcibly taken from him, after obtaining the documentation, the Protector of Citizens determined that the Centre did not respond adequately in the case of this family, which has been on their records since 2012. Based on the established shortcomings in the work and the standards of domestic and international law in protecting children from neglect, violence and abuse, the Protector of Citizens issued the competent guardianship authority recommendations to urgently evaluate the Service Plan for juveniles. The new service plan should include all measures to protect and improve the development and health of children, as well as all other available data on the situation and needs of children.

In the investigation, it was established that the Centre made irreparable errors in its work to the detriment of the rights of juveniles, because in a period of seven years, it did not examine and verify the allegations from reports on the neglect of the rights and interests of children. Nothing was done about the report on domestic violence and severely disturbed family relations, which was submitted to the Centre in 2012. The Centre failed to monitor and supervise parents in the exercise of parental rights and to provide them with support, counseling and other assistance services, even though it had reports from other institutions that indicated inadequate parental functioning and insufficient parental capacities. The taking away of children in December 2021 represents the most difficult form of taking children away from their parents and family conditions, without any previous activities of the Centre to provide support, help, counseling, supervision services with parents, but also to improve the family's financial situation and living conditions.

Only ten years after the first report of child neglect, in mid-December 2021, when the school reported that the child had not been attending classes since the beginning of the school year, the Centre reacted and urgently placed the children in a foster family. Without going into the results of the assessment and the formed professional opinion and the necessity of urgent relocation of children, the Protector of Citizens assessed that during the ten years, the Centre failed to undertake all activities that would improve the lives and needs of children, it is stated, among other things, in the recommendation.

The Protector of Citizens, on his own initiative, launched an investigation into the legality and regularity of work of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, after learning from the media that a beneficiary of the Belgrade Gerontological Centre – Home on Bežanijska Kosa, killed another beneficiary housed in that social welfare institution.

The Protector of Citizens asked the ministry to submit a statement within 15 days on all the allegations and circumstances of the case, including information on what measures the ministry has taken, the findings of the conducted inspection of the work of the home and whether there have been previous reports of incidents and violence in connection with the aforementioned beneficiaries of the Bezanijska Kosa Home. Also, the Protector of Citizens requested information on what measures the ministry plans to take in cooperation with other competent authorities in the event of determining responsibility for omissions in work.