Talpiot

Located in Hadera, Talpiot Children’s Village offers a home to nearly 200 boys and girls between 3 and 14 years of age. Many are Ethiopian children who came to Israel with ‘Operation Solomon’. Some are educated here because of serious learning difficulties, following severe emotional trauma or abuse. Others have parents who are unable to cope with their upbringing. Still others have been expelled from regular schools, because of difficulties or misbehaviour. Although not a ‘special educational needs school’, five out of eight classes need special education support.

Many immigrant families living in the Hadera area have failed to integrate into Israeli society. All too often, poverty and frustration lead to stress and domestic violence, and the children may be emotionally or physically abused.

In step with the growing emphasis in Israel to find community-based solutions to these welfare problems, two of our Villages, Talpiot and Yemin Orde have designed a new model with the welfare authorities, to answer these most urgent needs.

Talpiot now offers residential care for those children who must be removed from their homes by social services. Some are as young as 3 year old David, who lives in the Village with his two siblings, aged 9 and 11. Their mother is mentally ill and unable to care for them. The children were found underfed and abused by their father. Together they now live in a small family group home within the Village, cared for by ‘house parents’ and other support staff. Each family group accepts up to twelve children, all of whom attend their former school in Hadera.

The key to this model is the tremendous support and outreach to the children’s natural parents; they pay regular visits to the Village to play, read and share activities with their children. They are also encouraged to develop a close working relationship with the Village staff and social services, and attend support groups that discuss family issues and educational themes. Here, parents will find the help they so urgently need to form relationships with their children, so that one day they can hopefully return to their family home.