Founded in 1979, the Israel Association for Child Protection (ELI) is recognized by the Government of Israel and other human service agencies as the only organization in Israel that deals specifically and exclusively with all of the various aspects of child abuse. The organization has worked tirelessly to increase the awareness of the problem by educating the public at large, by training professionals, by lobbying policy decision makers, and by providing vital information to potential victims and parents - all in order to expand ELI’s ability to give assistance.

Under its founder and director, Mrs. Hanita Zimrin, Ph.D., ELI’s staff of professionals and specially trained volunteers approaches this painful problem in a unique and innovative way by offering single-point-of-entry comprehensive service. Families receive therapy, legal counseling, shelter and whatever other support services are needed without having to go from agency to agency. Thus, ELI compliments other welfare agencies in Israel by providing this totally coordinated variety of services not only to children who have been abused or neglected, but also to adult victims of abuse in their childhood and to abusive parents who need help to overcome their problem. Individual, group and family therapy sessions are offered throughout Israel.

ELI’s multifaceted organization offers a very full range of services:

• Hotline - a toll-free number throughout Israel offering immediate crisis intervention.
• Clinical Department - providing treatment to the abused victims and their families as well.
• Shelter - offering immediate protection to abused children who must be removed from home.
• Educational Programs - identifying, reporting and preventing child abuse in schools throughout Israel.
• Training Division - developing and disseminating knowledge to professionals in related fields of social services.
• Legal Department - providing legal aid and representation to victims of abuse.
• Lobbying - working with the government to influence legislation.
• Public Awareness - interfacing with the media to increase awareness of the issue of child abuse in Israel.
• Target Groups - working with immigrants, minorities and other closed communities.

Stress, frequent military duty, fear of random terrorism, un-employment and the difficulties associated with immigrating to a new country all contribute to the fact that children are abused in Israel. Though Jewish society is traditionally oriented toward children as the guardians of our future, it suffers from all of the maladies of modern life. In Israel, a recent survey showed that 40,000 children, at least 1.5% of the total child population, are victims of parental incompetence, cruelty, neglect, or emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

Therapeutic services have proven to be the most effective methodology to address family violence and the only way to break the cycle of intergenerational child abuse. ELI utilizes individual, family, and group therapies for the victim, perpetrator, spouse (who failed to protect the child), siblings (who witnessed the abuse), and grandparents (often the root source of abusive behavior). Therapy can stop current abuse, alter parental behavior, and help children overcome the devastation resulting from abuse that can affect their ability to form relationships of love and trust throughout their lives. This problem frequently involves a crisis situation in which immediate intervention is necessary. All other human social services in Israel look to ELI as the organization with the overall responsibility to provide children with the protection and treatment needed in these difficult situations.

Today, the organization's hotline is toll free from anywhere in Israel. The emergency shelter, located in Tel Aviv, can accommodate up to fifteen children from anywhere in the country. ELI's experience with a very diverse population and its remarkable accomplishments over the past two decades have served as a worldwide model of success in combating this difficult and painful problem.

The ELI Emergency Hotline is open 16 hours a day, and is available in Russian and in Arabic, as well as Hebrew.

Therapy with children can take many forms. 

Dinner time at ELI’s Emergency Shelter 

“In every other cause related
to children - physically or emotionally impaired children, children suffering from serious diseases, etc., parents act as a strong and on- going advocacy group to raise funds and create public awareness. It is only with abused children that, tragically, the parents are frequently found to be the perpetrators themselves, making he children fully dependent on the services offered by ELI”