Visits to places of deprivation of liberty refuse to participate in the educational programme, and their families are frequently reluctant to take them back or they refuse to offer them necessary support. In annual reports for 2015, 2016 and 2017, we emphasised that Slovenia has been tackling the issue of insufficient or complete lack of paedopsychiatric care, particularly for vulnerable children and adolescents, and problems with accommodation in (un)suitable institutions. The Ombudsman also pointed to this issue in its annual reports. Unfortunately, the long-awaited paedopsychiatric ward which would help children and adolescents with severe problems in mental development was also not open in 2018. When visiting residential treatment institutions in the role of the NPM, we proposed that the competent ministries examine and ensure hospital treatment for children and adolescents with severe psychiatric problems and aggressive behaviour, including suitable expert and technical conditions for their accommodation after being discharged from the institution. A great achievement for residential treatment institutions and youth homes are expert centres for comprehensive treatment of children and adolescents with special needs. They are intended for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders, who have problems with social integration and cannot live with their parents in original families for various reasons. These children and adolescents live together with childcare workers in residential groups, educational groups and youth apartments where childcare workers ensure implementation of the education programme with their 24-hour presence throughout the year. When visiting Malči Belič Youth Care Centre, we submitted ten recommendations. Following the Centre’s response to the preliminary report, we ascertained that the Centre partly accepted three recommendations referring to food, the procedure for accommodation and long-term decision making on contacts between children and parents. The Centre did not state its position regarding five recommendations, which included measuring the satisfaction of all stakeholders in the Centre and the installation of a collection box for commendations and complaints which would ensure anonymity. The NPM commended the Centre for its efforts invested in the opening and successful operating of two new residential groups in Ljubljana and Brežice, and the introduction of programmes, such as intensive mobile social pedagogical treatment in the educational field, specialised and intensive educational group, psychotherapeutic treatment of children and adolescents, post-discharge monitoring of adolescents, the employment of assistants to work with special needs children and the opening of the Expert centre for comprehensive support to children and adolescents with visual impairments and children and adolescents with disabilities in individual fields of learning. We also commended the implementation and participation of expert workers at supervision and intervision. On the occasion of a regular visit to three residential groups of Jarše Youth Home, we submitted nine recommendations. After receipt of their response, we established that the Home accepted three recommendations or stated that they were being realised. With these recommendations, the NPM proposed training for childcare workers and adolescents regarding suitable response during a panic attack, and that the headteacher also spend more time visiting individual residential groups when adolescents are present and let them know that they could turn to him when they had problems. We proposed that the adolescents be informed of the possibility of having an advocate appointed to them by the Human Rights Ombudsman. To the NPM recommendation to unify the amount and rules governing the allocation of allowance (pocket money) to adolescents irrespective of the residential community they live in, the management of the Home explained that the allowance is not understood as unconditional right that belongs to an individual, but as an important educational tool whose purpose is to encourage, enhance and reward suitable behaviours and conduct, and reduce, limit and sanction unwanted behaviours. They believed that unifying the rules for allocating allowance would be too complex and substantively excessive since it is impossible to encompass the diversity of adolescents’ problems and unsuitable behaviours displayed while investing in the efforts of the adolescents to change unsuitable and maintain suitable behaviours. To the proposal of the NPM that the staff circle between residential groups, the management explained that the discussion had been taking place for some time about the circulation also at the level of other residential treatment institutions and youth homes. In certain aspects, it was seen as a good idea, but certain reservations occurred with regard to endangering a stable environment which provides adolescents with security and predictability, and the management thought that the latter two were achieved only with aligned mentality and working of childcare workers. Alignment is one of the foundations of suitable upbringing, but its establishment requires a long-term process which would be disrupted with circulation since it would divert attention from childcare workers to anew thoughtful IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2018 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT 45