According to D. Jasevičienė, Lina Baranauskienė, head of the Vilnius County Child Rights Protection Department of the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service (VTAĮT), arrived at the family home with a colleague.
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“It was agreed with the help of a mobile team and the mediation of two other individuals,” D. Jasevičienė told ELTA.
According to her, documents should be prepared on Monday clearly stating that, based on the current situation, the children will not be taken from the family.
“There is an agreement that the documents, which will clearly state that neither now nor under any other circumstances based on the current situation will the children be taken, will be prepared by L. Baranauskienė on Monday,” said the family’s legal representative.
She also pointed out that, in her opinion, the decision not to propose case management raises questions regarding previously noted possible child rights violations.
What happened?
A large family living near Ukmergė is currently experiencing a tragedy – a two-month-old baby died on Sunday at Kaunas Clinics. Moreover, after the child’s death, the family received news from the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service deciding to take all the children from the family, including the deceased girl.
This story was posted on Facebook on Wednesday by lawyer Dalia Jasevičienė, describing the situation as: “how child rights take a deceased child from the family.”
“The mother came to Kaunas Clinics with a sick child, whose social worker, without having the child’s diagnosis and seeing only symptoms, reported alleged inappropriate behavior of the mother to the Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service. Upon receiving the report, the Service checked with Kaunas Clinics about their view of the situation and, without a diagnosis and not knowing that a congenital syndrome had already been diagnosed, decided to take the child, but the decision was made two days after the child’s death,” D. Jasevičienė told 15min.
She also clarified that the decision was made to take all 7 children from the family, but this decision has not yet been confirmed by the court.
Lina Baranauskienė, head of the Vilnius County Child Rights Protection Department, acknowledged in a comment sent to 15min that “when making the decision, we did not know about the baby’s death. We received this information only after the decision was made.” Kaunas Clinics also admitted that they did not inform child rights defenders about the baby’s death.
The decision to take the children from the family was made on Monday, July 27, while the baby’s death, which occurred on July 26, was learned of on July 28.
Doctors suspected neglect because the two-month-old girl was brought to Kaunas Clinics in early July in critical condition, very weak, weighing less than 2 kg, and lacking subcutaneous fat. Genetic tests revealed that the baby had Patau syndrome. About 90% of babies with Patau syndrome do not survive their first year of life, with some dying within the first weeks.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation
The Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office has launched a pre-trial investigation into abuse of parental rights or duties, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced on Friday.
The prosecution aims to establish the exact circumstances of the incident when a baby died at Kaunas Clinics at the end of July.
The pre-trial investigation was initiated after evaluating the information provided in the statement by the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service and determining that all possible and necessary measures must be taken to obtain data that would irrefutably confirm or deny the assumptions of a possible criminal offense, which can only be done by starting a pre-trial investigation and carrying out procedural actions.
The investigation will assess whether the suspected delay by the parents in seeking medical help could have contributed to the child’s life-threatening condition.
The pre-trial investigation was launched after receiving additional information from the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service and revoking the decision made on July 15 by the Ukmergė District Police Commissariat to refuse to start a pre-trial investigation.
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The decision would be revoked if the family cooperated
The State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service states that the decision to take the other six children from the Ukmergė family could be revoked if the parents agreed to cooperate.
“Decisions have been made, but we invite, hope for, and very much await the parents’ cooperation,” Lina Baranauskienė, head of the Vilnius County Department of the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service, told journalists on Thursday.
Currently, the children are still with the family. “The goal is for the children to grow up in their family with their parents, and in this case, it is definitely possible to find opportunities by selecting appropriate support measures for the children and the family,” said L. Baranauskienė.
“The baby’s health condition is just one of the reasons for those decisions. There are more circumstances that, as I mentioned, today imply the need to ensure the children’s safety,” said L. Baranauskienė. “The children have been threatened in terms of their well-being, emotional security, and development.”
The mentioned family has been known to child rights defenders since 2018.
L. Baranauskienė said that several reports had previously been received from health institutions, including concerns about inadequate child healthcare.
“The Service has visited and initiated and directed the family to assistance. The Ukmergė Social Services Center was responsible for providing help. The family was referred and assistance was initiated,” said the representative.
The specialist said that the threat to the well-being and development of the other children is due to living conditions.
A distinctive lifestyle
Following the scandal, there has also been talk about the family’s distinctive lifestyle and approach to child-rearing and healthcare.
The father of the deceased girl, Mintautas, revealed to 15min that the baby was born with congenital health disorders, but the family did not immediately seek medical help.
“Since we ourselves were scared when we saw such a baby – we already have 6 children – at first, we had to come to terms with the fact that he was born like this and is growing like this and adapt the family,” the father said. He revealed that the family decided to seek medical help only when they noticed the baby was not gaining weight.
Mintautas claimed that the large family lives in a relatively small dwelling but planned to move to a more spacious one in the fall. However, according to the father, the current dwelling became one of the reasons why child rights defenders decided to take the children from the family, and it also “did not help” that “we live differently.”
Asked to clarify what that means, the man replied that “we give birth to children at home just the two of us, my wife and I, we refuse all vaccinations for the children, no medical care is needed – all our children grow up healthy, we value the connection with the children and we talk carefully and spend time with them, letting them feel as they feel.”
However, the girl’s mother claimed that the family does not refuse medical care and visits a private clinic in Vilkmergė.
The children do not attend regular school. They are educated in private outdoor schools where the connection with nature is emphasized.
Ukmergė District Municipality Mayor Darius Varnas told the news agency ELTA that this family previously lived in social housing for six years but gave it up in October 2025 and moved to rent a homestead in the forest.
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