Neve Michael Children's Home is recognized by the State, and the Welfare Services constantly refers children at risk to our care. Our professional reputation is nationwide.
Emergency Crisis Center
Therapy Counseling Unit in memory of Shmuel Bronshtein z"l
"Bayit Cham"- Teenage Girl's Support Program
Teenage Girl's Crisis Center- New Project
Emergency Crisis Center
The doors to our Emergency Crisis Center opened in August 2000 with the assistance of the JDC and private donors. Over 300 boys and girls have been treated. Over 300 lives have been saved. They are the fortunate ones.
Yes, such atrocities happen here in Israel. Some children arrive with cigarette burns on their tender, young skin. Others have endured horrible experiences. For example one little boy, saw his drug addicted father kill his mother during a "high". Children from all over the country who need to be removed immediately from their home and surroundings are referred to us through the Welfare Department and arrive at our Emergency Crisis Center, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite major government budget cuts, our devoted staff works continuously to treat our children. We are in constant need of professional therapy and diagnostic testing for them.
It is our objective to help our children break the vicious cycle of distress. Each child responds differently to the various treatments available. Therefore, we try to find the best way to reach into the souls of our children. Our crisis center operates 24-7 to handle any emergency situation in which a child must be removed from its biological family at a moment’s notice.
Our children all come with “psychological ghosts” from their past. Some remember many frightening nights when they lay awake wondering if their father would forcefully join them in bed, or if their parents were too overdosed to notice that they were sick with fever. They arrive with various stress disorders--be it general anxiety, nightmares, misbehaving, depression, sleeplessness, bedwetting, physical complaints, and so on.
Our children are referred through the Welfare Department. The population coming from the poverty stricken classes, low social-economic level and most families are a few generations that are supported by the Welfare Department. Most parents were raised in Homes and the majority do not work or function in society.
Most children, who arrive at our Emergency Crisis Center, cannot return home. They are constantly here, through holidays and summer vacation. We have certainly made an immense difference in the lives of our children. We cannot change the hurtful past for our children. But, together, we can promise to give them a better future.
Please click here to help our children in the Crisis Center.
Therapy Counseling Unit in memory of Shmuel Bronshtein z"l
Notwithstanding all the wonderful programs that we provide for our children at Neve Michael, it is our long-held belief that the best service we can render for the community is to help keep families intact, even under the most trying circumstances. In some hard core cases, preserving the family structure is not a viable option. But for many children, and the families that stand to lose them, it is a best case scenario.
We believe it is possible to mend those family crises that, if not handled professionally and on time, can result in the separation of children from their natural parents. With limited resources, we have carried out this painstaking mission in the past, often successfully.
Taking a battered or neglected child and safely restoring that deserving little person to natural parents who for all intents and purposes have not proven themselves capable of raising kids is no simple task. It requires a tremendous amount of good will and resolve on the part of the parents, and it demands no small measure of professional input to make it work.
In the past, we have performed this seemingly unworkable task in sessions at Neve Michael. Now, we propose that by conducting the business of family healing on neutral grounds, we can best serve our primary goal of keeping families together.
Under this program, the families requiring our assistance are still living under the same roof, but breaking apart. We are alerted of their plight by the Social Services Department. Our mission is threefold:
1. As a top priority, our professionals will evaluate and treat children at risk who are most affected by the adverse circumstances they are exposed to at home.
2. We will conduct group therapy sessions to help parents with violent tendencies and drug and alcohol addictions. In order for the program to succeed, parents must be trained to behave responsibly towards their children, or risk losing them.
3. Concurrently, we will train members of the community to recognize the symptoms, so that families can begin receiving help on time.
Such an undertaking deserves a tension-free working environment in well-staffed permanent facilities. Such centers do in fact exist, in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Kiryat Ata. However, there is no such center where it is most needed, in our own Pardes Hanna, where poverty, deprivation, drug and alcohol abuse and family violence are all too familiar. As we envision it, children at risk in the region of Pardes Hanna that includes Hadera, Or Akiva, Afula and Givat Ada can begin receiving our professional assistance 2-3 times a week even as they remain within their family-school framework. We estimate that some 300 families in the Pardes Hanna area would turn to us for help at our External Crisis Center. The need is here – and so is our readiness to rise to the challenge.
We have already seen results of a wonderful program, “ Chemla” which means “ compassion” that we established in our existing crisis center. A group of 20-30 parents who were physically abusive towards their children participated in weekly sessions during a half year period. There was an immense change in the behavior of the parents towards their children. The family unit was kept intact and prevented the abuse of the children who would have become the next victims of their parent’s outrage. This allowed children to remain in their own familiar surroundings.
"Bayit Cham"- Teenage Girl's Support Program
There are 30 teenage girls at risk from Pardes Hana-Karkur who arrive every day after school to our "Bayit Cham" which is located near Neve Michael Children's Home. We rented an apartment and provided profesisonal staff, including a social worker.The girls receive a hot lunch, help with homework and a safe outlet for them.
Teenage Girl's Crisis Center
The Neve Michael Children’s Home in Pardes Hana, Israel has undertaken the establishment of the Teenage Girls Crisis Center, a first-of-its-kind undertaking in Israel for the benefit of young girls at risk. Today there are closed centers, like "Sofia" and "Mesila" for teenage girls who already have a police record and are staffed just by social workers.
The Center will serve unfortunate girls nationwide from all religious backgrounds from the ages of 13 to 18 who have experienced childhood traumas stemming from various adverse social conditions. These include: poor socio-economic backgrounds, family dysfunction, violence in the home and parents who suffer from drug abuse and alcohol addiction. Such abnormal conditions affect children and youth in a number of ways, such as: learning gaps, attention disorders, poor self-esteem and lack of confidence. Add to this the hormonal changes and peer pressures associated with teenage girls in particular, and the need for professional help intensifies.
The long-established Neve Michael Children’s Home in Pardes Hana has provided a warm home, family atmosphere and a wide range of educational and therapeutic services to children and youth in need. Through the 8 years of experience operating an Emergency Crisis Center we know that teenage girls must be in a separate facility due to the difference in atmosphere and various problems encountered.
The new Teenage Girls Crisis Center focuses on a core group of troubled youth. During their teenage years, many good girls from broken homes and impoverished backgrounds find themselves at a crucial juncture; they might run away from home; or they can either face a bleak future by turning to the dead-end choices that typify street life, such as prostitution, drugs and crime, or they can receive professional help in a caring and structured environment. The Teenage Girls Crisis Center offers the latter.
The Crisis Center provides a broad range of services covering the full spectrum of supervision and care for young girls at risk, who are referred to Neve Michael by the Welfare Services in local municipalities. Our services include emergency shelter, professional evaluation, and individual treatment and follow-up over extended time periods.
Treatment entails intervention in disintegrating families, rebuilding relationships between parents and their teenage daughters, all-embracing care for girls suffering from neglect, physical abuse and emotional instability and diverse therapeutic programs tailored for individual needs.
An important component for the success of the Teenage Girls Crisis Center is the family intervention program. We see this as a crucial element since it can mean the difference between success and failure. It is our mission to professionally heal the family unit and to try and keep it intact.
The building designated to house the Teenage Girls Crisis Center is being renovated and will be finished by the summer with generous support of $900,000 from Keren Hayesod, Sweden and a private donor. According to plan, we will treat groups of 15 girls simultaneously and up to 30-40 girls annually. All treatment and evaluation will be performed by professional experts, psychiatrist, therapists , psychologists and social workers. This will entail an expansion of Neve Michael’s existing professional staff.
We are recognized by the state, and the Welfare Services constantly refer children at risk to our care. Our professional reputation is nationwide and that is the main reason the Welfare Department will fund the cost of $500,000 for operating the Teenage Girl's Crisis Center after the first two years of operation.