Demography minister, Nada Murganic, said that according to her ministry's statistics, currently 2,259 children are being cared for by foster families in Croatia.
Furthermore, 814 children without adequate parental care are in institutions, and 90 children are under the age of three.
Growing up in institutions, despite efforts by employees in them, cannot offset the lack of experience of being cared for in an individual family, the minister said.
The chairwoman of the UNICEF Croatia, Valentina Otmacic, spoke about the importance of providing family care for children.
UNICEF Croatia states on its web site that "growing up in an institution is harmful to a child’s development."
"Significant progress has been achieved over the past few years on enhancing the foster care system in Croatia yet an unduly large number of children still grow up in institutions," this UN organisation notes.
UNICEF also strongly advocates the enhancement of the foster care system in terms of continuous support, monitoring and education of foster families, according to the information on its web site.