Orr Shalom Foster Homes for Children-at-Risk

Foster care provides a safe home and a healthy model of family life for children who have been removed by the social welfare services from their biological family.

Fostering differs significantly from adoption. In adoption, the child becomes the legal responsibility of the adopting parents while in foster, the foster parents provide a safe and stable home for children and youth for months or even years but the children are not "theirs". Some children eventually return home to their biological families, while others remain in long-term foster care until the age of 18.

In 2004, Orr Shalom was awarded the government tender for foster for Israel's central region. Currently, we have 550 foster families caring for 750 children including 200 children who are mentally or physically handicapped and 70 children with a psychiatric profile.

These wonderful families provide a warm and supportive home, stability and security to babies, children and teenagers from every sector of society, who were previously living in distress with their biological parents. These families are volunteers and give of themselves for the good of the troubled children for whom they care.

Orr Shalom's foster families give loving care to their foster children, while at the same time maintaining the connection between the child and his/her biological parents where possible. We believe that maintaining this connection is necessary for the emotional well-being of the child, and that it has an important influence on the child's identity and sense of belonging. For this reason, we work to establish cooperative relationships between the biological parents and the foster parents, with support from Orr Shalom and the biological family's social worker. Structured regular visits by biological parents are a very important component in the life of an Orr Shalom child and we encourage these visits as much as possible.

Foster families receive support and guidance from a professional Orr Shalom team that includes a social worker and psychologist. Being volunteers, foster families do not receive a salary, although they do receive a monthly stipend for the child's expenses, from the Ministry of Welfare. The basket of services that the child receives includes enrichment activities, extra tuition hours and psychological treatment.

Our foster families have several things in common. They:

• Really love children and are able to open their homes and love someone else's child
• Are well organized and able to provide consistent physical and emotional care
• Are emotionally intelligent enough to care for a child who may be angry, confused and afraid
• Are happy to work as part of a team, with social workers, teachers and the child's biological parents
• Are able to say goodbye if the child is able to return to their biological parents

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

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