Yeladim Fair Chance for Children
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide each and every child at risk with opportunities similar to those offered to children raised in normative homes, and by which to help them grow up in the best possible way and become functioning and contributing members of society. Yeladim is committed to these children’s mental and social development, to the protection of their rights and to caring for their advancement beyond the circles of adversity and violence. Yeladim – Fair Chance for Children operates in four main areas: • Initiation and operation of educational, rehabilitative, and therapeutic programs in nationwide residential care facilities in Israel. • Operating a unique court-appointed guardianship model for children that have been removed from their homes and have no family backing. • Running a program that combines housing and counselling aimed at supporting residential care graduates who have no family backing. • Lobbying for the rights of children and adolescents at risk as well as residential care graduates, who have no family backing.
About This Cause
A child is born. A child does not choose his or her parents or family. Sometimes, the hardships in a child’s life circumstances are so great that he or she cannot face them alone. There are 10,000 children and adolescents in Israel today who have been removed by welfare authorities from families in crises, such as addictions, life threatening illnesses, incarceration, abandonment, and death of parents. These children, some of whom, have endured long and harsh periods of neglect, abuse and pain, live in residential care and foster families throughout Israel. Whereas the various residential solutions provide on-going support for these children and adolescents, they are in need of professional, educational, and social guidance and mentoring, tailored specifically for their needs. Yeladim – Fair Chance for Children - Council for Children in Residential Care, winner of the Israeli Presidential Excellence Award was established in 1986 as a non-profit organization aimed at aiding these children and adolescents during their childhood and adolescence years. Yeldaim supports children and adolescents from all sectors in Israel who live in residential care and foster families, by operating social, therapeutic as well as educational programs. These programs are supported in part by the Israeli Ministries of Welfare and Education, and heavily rely on donations from foundations, partnerships with corporations, as well as private donations. Of the 10,000 children removed from their homes, about 1,500 children and adolescents have no family backing. Children without family backing have no parental figure in their lives, let alone a home to visit on school breaks. Although all the children living in welfare residential care have been removed from broken homes, many of them still have some family backing and they visit their families on weekends, school breaks, and holidays. Children without family backing, have either family that put the children’s physical or mental health at risk or without a family at all. We call them 365 days’ children, who, without our help, will remain in residential care for 365 days a year. Out of them, 600 children and adolescents need a guardian’s support who will care for their physical wellbeing as well as their property. Every year, hundreds of post high school graduates complete their residential care and foster care. Out of them, roughly 450 teens are youth without family backing. When these young adults turn 18 years old, their eligibility for residential care or foster care ends and they have no home to return to and must function on their own in every aspect of life. Our Programs Yeladim – Fair Chance for Children is an expert in its field in Israel. All its professional organizational programs have been developed by the NGO after years of research and most of them have been adopted by the Israeli Ministry of Social Welfare & Services and became a working model for other similar organizations. Yeladim’s programs meet the children, adolescents and youth at risk throughout their lives, starting from their first days in an out-of-home placement such as residential care or foster care all the way until they start their independent life as young adults. At times, the bond that forms between our staff and the youth is so meaningful that their crossed paths never break, and they keep on being a source for good advice, a shoulder to lean on, and a big brother or sister for these young adults. As the name suggests, Yeladim – Fair Chance for Children gives children, adolescents and youth at risk to a real chance to rehabilitate their gentle souls and look forward to the future equipped with a toolbox filled with essential life skills that will help them step forward into the adults’ world with their heads held high up. All Yeladim’s programs have been designed to provide special solutions to children who have no family backing and some of the programs have been developed especially for them, as these children and youth are considered the most complicated population. These are the children no one wants, the children in Israel’s “backyard”, who wouldn’t have to deal with the challenges they are faced with today, if they were born to normative families. **The Dvora Fischer Legal Guardianship – In this program, Yeladim – Fair Chance for Children serves as legal guardian of minors’ physical health and property with a unique one-of-a-kind model in the world. The staff of the Legal Guardianship program includes experienced employees and mainly experienced social workers who serve as meaningful role models for children with no family backing that have been abandoned, orphaned, or born to parents who are unable to raise them. These social workers support and guide the children until they reach adulthood in every important crossroad in their lives, while seeing to all their needs and rights (24/7). Most of the staff in this program is comprised of women. The reason for this is the fact that part of the young girls under their care have been sexually assaulted and therefore feel safer in a female environment. **NOAM - An Integrative Framework for Children with no Family Support – A program that connects between hundreds of families throughout Israel and children in residential care with no family backing. In this program, these families host, on a regular basis, children who have no families to go back to on weekends, school breaks, and holidays. The aim is to provide these children with a healing family experience as well as a meaningful family backing in their lives. Yeldaim was awarded the 2012 Presidential Volunteer Medal for this program. ** The Young Adults Program – The leading program in Israel for young adults, graduates of residential care and foster care who have no family backing and includes the following programs: Bridge to Independence, Mentors for community based support and guidance, and the Bridge to Education & Employment center & the leadership forum. As part of all the different activities in this program, Yeladim rents apartments throughout Israel for the goal of literally providing homes to these 18-26 years old young adults, as well as support, guidance, and skills with which they would be able to build a bridge to an independent life. The program staff is doing everything in its power to make these young adults feel protected and less isolated and lonely and offers them assistance in every life aspect, from meaningful mandatory military or civil service, through financial management, realizing their academic and occupational potential (via the Bridge to Education & Employment center that supports young adults in an academic track and assists them in finding their way in the job market). The program also provides these young adults with emotional support and therapy by volunteering professionals who work as mentors and provide personal help in various life aspects, and more. **Educational Resource Centers – A program that provides a professional national support system for the educational staff in residential care settings for children and adolescents at risk, aimed at – acquisition of life and social skills, as well as multidisciplinary enrichment using variable hands-on techniques and methods. Furthermore, Yeladim also operates an online education portal that contains all the program’s contents and activities which receives wide-ranging exposure among the Israeli informal education community. **Parents as Partners – At times, life circumstances, such as poverty, lack of social and emotional resources, and others, lead to a temporary removal of children from their homes. This program is based on the premise that the family holds a significant and meaningful place in a child’s life and that most parents want their child’s best interest. In this program, we have developed a partnership work model between the parents of children in residential care, the residential care staff, and the communities in which the families live. This work model is based on the aim of creating a change in the prevailing belief of the residential care staff. All for the goal of maintaining the relationship between a child and his/her family even during times when the child is not staying at home.