Total Adopted Rejected Realised No data Legend Number of recommendations 59 36 6 11 6 Until 2016, there were three youth homes (Malči Belič Youth Care Centre, Maribor Youth Home and Jarše Youth Home) in Slovenia, including seven institutions for care and education (Planina Residential Treatment Institution, Veržej Primary School – Dom Unit, Kranj Residential Treatment Institution, Višnja Gora Educational Institution, Slivnica pri Mariboru Residential Treatment Institution, Logatec Education and Training Institution and Fran Milčinski Smlednik Educational Institution), and one special education institution (Črna na Koroškem Special Education, Work and Care Centre), which functions under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The MIZŠ plans to combine these institutions in the future. The first example of such integration occurred on 1 September 2016, when Slivnica pri Mariboru Residential Treatment Institution was affiliated with Maribor Youth Home. Youth homes accommodate children and adolescents for whom primary family members or guardians are unable to provide sufficient care and education, who are educationally at risk and problematic, and also children and adolescents with emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties. In most cases, the children and adolescents are directed to youth homes by social work centres. Residential treatment institutions accept children and adolescents with behavioural disorders between the ages of 6 and 17, with the exception of Planina Residential Treatment Institution, which also accepts children and adolescents with mental disorders. Institutions for adolescents accept adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18, who can stay in the institution until the age of 21. Adolescents are placed in such institutions on the basis of decisions issued by social work centres in the case of a threat in the family, and on the basis of court decisions (as educational measures) and also on the basis of placement decisions concerning educational programmes. The NPM’s findings based on the visits The NPM determined that all institutions visited in 2016 comply with the legislative standards regarding the number of children and adolescents in groups and with the number, type and level of education of staff as is stipulated by the law. The institutions have observed the majority of the NPM’s recommendations from previous visits. According to the DPM, the institutions fulfil their missions accordingly. The recommendation that social and educational professionals should do more when treating behavioural deviations and violations of house rules, and prepare expert bases together with the institutions for appropriate and more uniform treatment of adolescents with explicitly aberrant behaviour, with instructions for suitable educational measures, was not fulfilled. Educational work in institutions is implemented on the basis of the applicable educational programme drafted twelve years ago, regarding which the NPM stated in its reports from 2013 and onwards that it had to be updated. Although spatial conditions and equipment in the institutions were suitable, the NPM noticed that the reduction of financial resources for investment, and maintenance and renovation of equipment was obvious in all the institutions we visited. The NPM thus calls on the MIZŠ to provide sufficient funds for this purpose in spite of the financial crisis. The concluding observations from the visits or recommendations and commendations of good practices are provided below. In the 2015 report, we particularly highlighted the issue of the growing number of children and adolescents with explicitly dissociative disorders, such as disorders in relationships with their peers and adults, disorders at work, thefts, pottering and wandering, violence, swaggering and sexual maladjustment. The managements of all the relevant institutions further point to an increase in functional disorders, which significantly hinder children and adolescents in their personal development 92 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2016 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT