ELI OVERVIEW
We have seen new trends and new types of abuses directed toward children needing to be confronted. ELI has launched several new programs and expanded the scope of ongoing initiatives.
The Hot Line
Hot Line Referrals by type of abuse
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Sexual |
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In total, 6,741 cases were referred to ELI through the hotline.
Physical abuse: 33%
Sexual abuse: 41%
Emotional abuse: 11% and
Severe neglect: 15%
In 61% of cases, the abuse was perpetrated by a parent. In two thirds of those cases the mother was the perpetrator. Forty eight percent of the victims were boys and 52% were girls. 38% were under the age of five and 62% were under the age of nine. Interestingly, in 30% of the referrals of sexual abuse, the victims were under the age of five, and in 57% they were under the age of nine. While these are certainly shocking numbers, we attribute them to ELI's many successful outreach activities in kindergartens and schools over the last years. As upsetting as these numbers are, we note that when we empower children and parents, more cases of abuse are uncovered.
ELI’s Clinical Unit
ELI’s therapists treated 3,540 abused children and their family members in 2007. Seventy percent of the cases in therapy are those of sexual abuse while only 41% of the calls to the hotline referred to sexual abuse. This is due to the fact that whenever sex crimes occur, there is more sensitivity and pressure to seek assistance than in cases of physical abuse (as a result, more physical abuse victims go untreated).
ELI believes that therapeutic interventions in those painful cases of child abuse need to be not only professional, but also accessible and friendly. ELI has developed several principals based on this approach.
a) Waiting list: Despite the pressures of ELI's overworked staff members, no child will wait more than 10 days for assistance regardless of where in Israel they reside.
b) The Mobile Therapy Unit: Allows ELI to respond immediately to emergency situations. In addition, the mobile therapy unit allows us access to remote regions where other services are not available. In 2007 the MTU served clients on a regular basis in the Jordan Valley, Yehuda Plains, the towns around the Galilee, and Moshavim in the Negev and near Eilat. The operation of the MTU was generously supported by the Edli and Paktor families.
c) The Satellite Therapists Project: In order to provide easy and friendly access to therapy, ELI “meets its clients where they are.” Each of ELI's therapists spends one to three days weekly traveling to various communities such as the Golan Heights, Lod, Yavne or Bat Yam in order to offer services there. Services are given in office spaces which are donated by local municipalities who welcome ELI’s outreach initiatives and thus we are able to extend our reach beyond Tel-Aviv while keeping overhead as low as possible. The Satellite Therapist Initiative is generously sponsored by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Sacta Rashi, Israel’s National Insurance Administration and the Edli Foundation.
The New Immigrant Center
Introduced in 2005 The New Immigrant Help Center for Abused Children was designed to provide counseling, education, and therapy for children and families who have recently immigrated to Israel. Over the course of the last two years ELI has succeeded in increasing awareness in the Ethiopian and Russian communities as to the issues around child abuse and we have encouraged families to call the hot line and many children and family members to begin therapy. ELI has developed unique techniques and approaches to address cultural issues and the crisis of immigration.
Current and past supporters of the New Immigrant Help Center include The Bonim Atid Group of UJA New York, The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, The East Bay Jewish Community Teen Foundation and the Harry Kramer Memorial Fund.
Arab Population
Addressing cultural nuances was also a major issue when ELI began to ramp up its efforts at confronting child abuse among Arabs, in particular as ELI opened its new office in Nazareth. The hot line was launched in Arabic and it is staffed by nine trained Arabic-speaking volunteers. In 2007 the Nazareth office received over 100 referrals, 85% boys and only 15% girls. This is due to the fact that the Arab culture is not yet open to the equality between genders and girls are often blamed for dishonoring the family when they report that they have been abused. All of the cases were sexual abuse, as physical abuse and neglect typically go unreported in the Arabic community.
Though the office was opened in order to serve the local population in Nazareth, its reputation for delivery of professional services combined with the lack of other available services for Arabs, led to referrals from other predominantly Arab villages and towns including those near Be'er Sheva. Following interviews with the Arab press including the newspaper Alsonara and the Agil TV station in Ramalla, which are read and watched in the entire Arab world, the hot line has started to receive calls from all over the Middle East including Bahrein and Syria. May this be the corner stone for peace. In addition to the hot line, and therapeutic intervention, ELI's Outreach and Abuse Prevention programs have been translated into Arabic, adapted to suit the different culture, and delivered in local schools. ELI's activities in Nazareth are coordinated by a steering committee which includes representatives from the Ministries of Education, Health, and Welfare, the police, and the local hospitals. This project is supported by the Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Foundation, The Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation, and the Hilda and Jacob Blaustein Foundation.
School Outreach and Prevention Program
This very successful program continued in 2007, on a larger scale than ever before. Eighty thousand children participated in the program in more than 1000 separate activities in schools and Kindergartens from Eilat in the south to the Golan Heights in the north. The United Jewish Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington D.C. underwrote the delivery of the Outreach and Prevention Program in schools in Beit Shemesh and Yehuda Plains, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh sponsored the program in Carmiel and Misgav. Steven Spielberg's Righteous Person's Foundation also sponsored the program for the traumatized children in the schools in the North of Israel.
Among the new programs that were developed in 2007 are two new plays dealing with sexual abuse and the rejected child. Special attention was given this year to parents who wish to learn more about prevention. An additional component of the program which addresses the danger of online sexual predators was added this year as well.
Training
With the growing awareness as to the issue of child abuse came a growing need for training professionals. 3,550 professionals: psychologists, social workers, physicians, attorneys, teachers and judges were exposed to a variety of training activities. In addition to seminars, conferences and workshops, ELI offered five long term, 1 – 2 year continuing education courses during which experienced professionals learned abuse focused treatment. Following the principle of offering services throughout Israel, many of the courses were conducted in communities in Israel’s periphery. For the first time, ELI offered training courses to Ultra Orthodox professionals and to workers in residential care facilities.
Considered world experts on the issue of child abuse and child protection, ELI's staff is regularly invited to train professionals in other countries..
The Emergency Shelter
ELI's emergency shelter, located in the heart of Tel Aviv, is the place where children are admitted by court order under extreme circumstances when their lives are in danger. This is an extraordinary facility which offers safety and protection, crisis intervention and diagnosis, and gives ELI's therapists the opportunity to develop a long term treatment plan for the children. 100 children received services in the shelter. In 2007 The Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties generously sponsored the much needed renovation of the shelter facility.
ELI's shelter is not a residential facility but rather an intensive care unit where children who are admitted in the midst of trauma are protected for several months. They are diagnosed and therapy begins. At the point when children no longer need intensive care and are ready to leave the shelter, a problem arises. Continuing services are not always available and approximately 50% of the children stay for a longer period than needed (some times up to a year). The solution to this problem is a new program, the "Safe House" which started in 2007.
The Safe House – A Bridge to Home
When diagnosis in the shelter indicates that there is no hope for rehabilitating a family, and parents lack appropriate parental skills, ELI directs its efforts toward termination of parental rights and adoption. There are cases however, where there is hope for rehabilitating a family, but only with appropriate treatment and sufficient time.
Through this new program ELI is investing in parents and their parenting skills. This program has two major elements; one is inviting the parents to stay in the shelter with their children for several hours, several times per week for supervised visits. The visits might take place in the mornings, when the parent (usually a mother) is not working, or during the afternoon and evening, after work hours. The second element is done in the family's home. An ELI therapist accompanies the child on a home visit, spends time with the family and monitors and coaches during various “real life” situations. The visit is recorded on video and then analyzed together with the parent(s). The two methods are used in order to treat the parents, train them, empower, reinforce teach and supervise them. The goal of the Safe House program is to create a bridge between the shelter and home and allow for the child to go back home to a safe environment and mend the broken bonds. This program was sponsored by the Viterbi Family Foundation, The Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties, and the Gimprich Family Foundation.
Internet Safety Program
While it is a wonderful tool for many things, the internet has opened our homes and exposed our children to a new threat. Recent studies have shown that one in five children is solicited on-line by sexual predators. Furthermore, one out of every thirty three children is seriously affected.
In collaboration with channel 10 T.V., ELI initiated a program in which therapists pretended to be 13 year old girls in internet chat rooms. They were approached by pedophiles and they agreed to meet at a specified location, an apartment rented by channel 10. When the pedophiles arrived, they were arrested by the police who were waiting outside. On the first night of the program, 11 men were arrested. ELI launched a campaign which includes a blog on the internet, pamphlets for parents and children, a “safe use of the internet” treaty between children and parents which was widely distributed and lectures and other public activities. An immediate result of the activity was that several children – victims of online sexual predators were referred to ELI for therapy.
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