Orr Shalom Overview

Orr Shalom's 1,300 children are cared for in a variety of frameworks including foster programs, therapeutic family group homes, adolescent girls' homes, intensive care facilities, emergency foster homes and more.

Foster Programs
In 2004, Orr Shalom was awarded the government tender to provide foster services in Israel’s central region. Our Foster Central Program currently provides short-or long-term love and care for 750 children, ages 0-18, in 550 foster families. 200 of these children are either physically or mentally handicapped. Additionally, our Therapeutic Foster Program, initiated in 1993, is a unique program that recruits and supervises foster families for children with a psychiatric profile throughout the country. Currently, there are 35 families caring for 70 such children. All of our foster parents are supported by a professional team of social workers who train and work with them to ensure successful placement.

Therapeutic Family Group Homes
Orr Shalom operates 24 Therapeutic Family Group Homes, each of which accommodates between 7 to 11 children (ages 6 - 18) who were removed from their families. With a married couple serving as house parents, and a psychologist, social worker, academic tutor, and counselor on staff, the children live in a supportive therapeutic environment and are provided with a chance for a better future. Our Homes are located in Haifa, Holon, Orr Yehuda, Abu Ghosh, Jerusalem, Mevasseret, Ma’ale Adumim, Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva, and Eilat.

Adolescent Girls Home
Out of the 24 Therapeutic Family Group Homes, Orr Shalom operates seven homes specifically designed for adolescent girls at risk. Based on the structure of the Therapeutic Family Group Home, the Adolescent Girls Homes respond to teenage girls in acute distress, and are therefore smaller – never more than seven girls per home. Our Adolescent Girls Homes are located in Herzliya, Mevasseret, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Be’er Sheva, and Eilat.

Reut and Beit Goldschmidt Intensive Care Homes
Orr Shalom operates two intensive-care facilities, The Reut Home for Boys and Beit Goldschmidt - the Goldschmidt Home for Girls.

The Re’ut (Hebrew for “friendship”) Home is a residential intensive treatment center for boys, ages 7-14, who suffer from severe emotional and behavioral disturbances as a result of extreme physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Many of the boys act in a destructive and self-destructive manner as an expression of their deep-seated mistrust and past betrayals.

To heal these boys, Orr Shalom developed a unique method of care which is based on a particularly high staff-child ratio to ensure that each child receives individual attention and tailored therapy on a daily basis. Re’ut was created as a last-stop safety net for children who were rejected or expelled by all other institutions, and for whom the only remaining options are psychiatric hospitals or closed juvenile detention centers.

Located in Mevasseret Zion, Beit Goldschmidt is a closed facility giving intensive care to girls, aged 10 to 14 years old. All the girls have been through the deeply traumatic experience of sexual abuse which has led to a wide range of psychological and behavioral disturbances, including eating disorders, promiscuity and suicidal tendencies.

At the home, the girls receive continuous psychological therapy to facilitate their emotional and psychological recovery. In order to guarantee individual attention for every girl, Orr Shalom maintains an experienced professional team, who help the girls acquire skills to deal with their problems.

Both the Reut and Goldschmidt Homes provide an intimate institutional setting and an on-site special education school, allowing the children in care to begin to heal and achieve emotional stability. Both homes also provide a structured and supportive therapeutic environment offering care and supervision 365 days a year.

Emergency Foster Homes – The Front Line
Orr Shalom operates eight Emergency Foster Homes that care for up to five children aged 0-6 years at any one time on an emergency basis. These children arrive with just the clothes on their backs after a deeply traumatic experience or emergency crisis. They are cared for immediately by an Orr Shalom emergency foster family whilst the Ministry of Welfare decides if the removal from their biological home is short or long term. A child remains in the Emergency Foster Home for up to six months or until a permanent foster family is located. These families provide food, clothing and equipment to these vulnerable children as well as unconditional love and care.

Prevention Programs in the Community
Our Parent-Child Center in Eilat works with parents and children to improve the situation of at-risk families. The programs provide parents with a new skill set for interacting with their children, structured playtime and parenting workshops. Our after-school program takes place in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood in Jerusalem, serving 12 children, ages 9-13, who are at high risk of being removed from their families. These children's behavioral issues make them unsuitable for other community-based programs. The Jerusalem program provides the children with a therapeutic, after-school framework, offering therapy, enrichment activities, homework guidance, tutoring and two nutritious hot meals.

Yaacov Zeev Graduates’ Home
At age 18, many Orr Shalom alumni are not yet prepared to succeed as adults without a framework of support, and the expectation of financial and emotional self-sufficiency risks jeopardizing the progress they have made over years of therapeutic care. The Yaacov Zeev Graduates’ Home responds to this need and aims to help alumni transition emotionally and economically into the adult world and learn to care for themselves. Under the supervision of the project director, social worker and a counselor, the graduates learn to manage their own finances, choose, purchase and prepare food for nourishing meals and take responsibility for their personal needs. This program does not receive governmental support, and is entirely dependent upon philanthropic donations.
 

Keren AVI – The Avi Fund
The AVI Fund was created in memory of Avi Rosenberg z"l, to support Orr Shalom graduates who are inducted into the Israeli army. Avi, the son of a former member of the Board of Directors of Orr Shalom, Nahman Rosenberg, lost his life in a tragic car accident in 2000. Avi Rosenberg was a young man who cared deeply about children and admired the work of Orr Shalom. The AVI Fund was established to perpetuate his memory by assisting Orr Shalom graduates.

The AVI Fund makes it possible for Orr Shalom to continue to be a source of support for teens that grew up in its homes beyond the end of government funding for their care. The Fund helps these teens before, during and after their army service, assisting with expenses for which their parents would normally pay. Additionally, the Fund offers graduates assistance on completing their service by funding vocational training or higher education

Hazula Second-Hand Store
In 2000, Orr Shalom opened the Hazula second-hand store, adjacent to the Mevasseret Zion shopping mall, the profits of which go towards Orr Shalom's budget.  The store sells quality clothing for men, women and young children, evening gowns, shoes, jewelry, bags, books, toys, household items, original artwork including paintings, carpets, cosmetics, gifts, vintage/retro items and antiques. Hazula serves as a transition to the real world for Orr Shalom teenagers living in therapeutic family group homes by providing the teens with an opportunity to work in the store, thereby gaining valuable work experience and life skills as well as a commensurate salary. After a careful selection process, Orr Shalom teens are trained to work successfully in the store and to assume responsibility. Over the past nine years, dozens of Orr Shalom children at risk have had the opportunity to work at the store and to build up a bank of constructive experiences and positive interactions. The store has been described by Israel's daily newspaper, Ma'ariv, as "the jewel in the shopping mall's crown".
 

Awards

Orr Shalom’s unique system of childcare has garnered national prominence in the field of social welfare. The Department of Children and Youth in the Ministry of Social Affairs views Orr Shalom as “the leading children’s organization in Israel that successfully maintains the small therapeutic family-oriented group home,” and regards it as “the model and future direction for child care programs in Israel.” Orr Shalom received the 2002 Adler Prize awarded by the Adler Academic Institute of Research of the Shapell School of Social Work at Tel Aviv University in recognition of Orr Shalom’s advancement of the welfare and well-being of at-risk children.

Click on the following link to donate.