Skopje, 17 May 2023 (MIA) - Visitations to foster families by expert teams are unannounced, and recently there have been no reports of child abuse in foster families, Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jovanka Trenchevska said on Wednesday.

"In recent years we opened three new centers for foster families where we offer support, and foster families can call at any time to get professional advice, because for some of them it is a new experience and there are challenges that they cannot solve on their own. Due to this, there are expert teams available in the centers for foster families, as we continuously hold lessons to strengthen capacities of foster families and all those who have registered to foster," Trenchevska told reporters.

Regarding the latest case with the abused girl in Tetovo, Trenchevska said that the institutions did not hide.

"If you are talking about the latest case in Tetovo, institutions did not hide because the girl was not placed in a foster family, and the procedure was conducted a long time ago. However, in the interest of the procedure, for which the Prosecutor's office has taken over the case, I would not comment. But it is not related to foster families, as was stated by some media outlets," the Minister emphasized.ssh/sk/