Orr Shalom's Therapeutic Foster Program

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 in the Greater Jerusalem area.

Coming from backgrounds of severe abuse, neglect, post-traumatic disorders or acute emotional distress, these children may have been previously placed in psychiatric hospitals, emergency centers, institutional care or unsuccessful adoptions.  The children, as well as the foster families who care for them, need specialized therapeutic care and continuous and intensive professional guidance. Those accepted into the program are among the neediest and most troubled of Israeli children.  This program provides them with individualized therapeutic treatments and a wide range of extracurricular activities.

Orr Shalom believes that foster parents in a family setting can be an alternative to institutionalized solutions for children with a psychiatric profile. The foster parents who care for them, and have to deal with a plethora of highly stressful situations, are enveloped in a comprehensive professional support network.  The professional Orr Shalom personnel who comprise this network include a case management social worker, six staff social workers, two psychologists and two psychiatrists.   Two volunteer students and a volunteer social worker are also part of the care group.

Beyond the costs of the professional staff, this program incurs much additional expenditure because the children’s needs are so great due to their extraordinary backgrounds of dysfunction and distress. All these children take medication due to their psychiatric needs.

Foster parents must provide them with an unusually high degree of individualized attention and special programming.  Unfortunately, government funding does not cover all the extra costs, so Orr Shalom depends on philanthropic support to fund these added expenses which include medications, extra tutors, semi-private special education schools when required, after-school activities, summer camps, and respite and recreational activities that encourage bonding between the child and his/her foster family. 

• All of the children are under psychiatric care and take a variety of prescribed medications to treat their various syndromes and symptoms. 

• Most of these children cannot attend regular public schools because their severe emotional issues cause them to display ongoing disruptive behavior.  They must be educated in semi-private special-education schools.

• Extra-curricular activities and summer camp programs are especially important to keep the children active and busy in a secure environment, giving the foster parents time away from the children to accomplish their own tasks and attend to their own needs. The extra activities give children the opportunity to participate, enjoy, and even excel in different areas, raising their self-esteem.  We strive to offer as many of these activities as possible. 

• Alternative therapy such as therapeutic horseback riding has been found to be an extremely effective tool for increasing self-esteem, building communication skills and helping with anger control.

To register interest in becoming an Orr Shalom therapeutic foster parent, please contact Irit Shachar on iritsh@Orr-Shalom.co.il or call our offices on 02 993 6900.
 

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