Family accuses child protection service of manipulation after baby’s death

The family of a baby who died at Kaunas Clinics after being diagnosed with Patau syndrome has accused Lithuania’s State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service of manipulation, LRT reported. The service suspected neglect and planned to remove the deceased girl and six other children from the family.

No final decision has been made on removing the children. Their situation must be assessed again.

The service said it had agreed with the family that psychologists would visit on Tuesday to hear the children’s views. However, family lawyer Dalia Jasevičienė informed officials slightly more than an hour before the meeting that the parents had changed their minds.

“We went to the family’s home, but the parents did not let us in and did not answer our calls,” said Lina Baranauskienė, head of the Vilnius County division of the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service. She said officials were ready to visit again, stressing that the children’s views were especially important in assessing the family’s situation. The service also said it had requested information about the children’s health from health insurance funds and medical institutions.

Jasevičienė accused the child protection authorities of manipulating the situation. She said three of the children were at a seaside camp and that the parents could not bring them back at such short notice.

According to the lawyer, the family had expected the psychologist to call or send a message to arrange a meeting directly with the mother, Smiltėja Žlabienė. Instead, the family received an email that Jasevičienė saw only after returning home in the evening. She said the family was observing religious rites for the deceased girl.

Jasevičienė also said Ukmergė Mayor Darius Varnas and a local administrative official arrived at the family’s home without an appointment. She said the mayor was bleeding, injured and had been bandaged. The family called police to establish whether he was sober after Žlabienė noticed a distinctive smell, the lawyer said.

Varnas confirmed that he had visited the Žlabienė family on Tuesday, saying he wanted to discuss municipal assistance. He denied being under the influence of alcohol and said he would have been abstinent for a year on October 19. “If they cannot distinguish perfume from the smell of alcohol, then that is something else,” the mayor said. He added that a neighbour had filmed the visit and that he had video recordings.