Orr Shalom Children's Homes and the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA) Embark on an Exciting Partnership

Orr Shalom Children’s Homes and the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA) have recently embarked on an exciting partnership. With the same mission at hand—to heal broken families and give children hope, both agencies are now able to work together to share insights and techniques on how to best serve their children. For Orr Shalom, this educational experience is providing a different perspective on the best way to enhance the foster boarding care program we took on two years ago. While Orr Shalom’s 26 years of experience have given us the primary tools to deal with the new issues and challenges, JCCA has been working with foster families for many decades and has been recognized by the City of New York as an outstanding provider of foster care services. This opportunity offers Orr Shalom a chance to gain new techniques and approaches. In addition, this partnership is fostering closeness between Israelis and New Yorkers who share the same allegiance to helping less fortunate children.

On March 19th two Orr Shalom professionals, Merav Dadia—Director of Homes, and Anat Dunowiez—Director of Foster Boarding Homes, came to New York to initiate this exciting exchange program with JCCA Over the course of the week, Anat and Merav visited many of JCCA’s programs and met with staff, and with families that JCCA serves. Throughout the course of the visit, staff from both Orr Shalom JCCA were able to see both the similarities and differences in approaches and services. Both gained insights, and Anat and Merav took home some new ideas.

Just to share some of what they observed:

• One of the main differences between the Israeli system and the American one is that in the US, most of the children who are removed from their homes are put in foster families. In Israel, only a small portion (about 20%) of the children who are removed from their homes are placed in foster programs, while most go to large residential programs.
• In the US, a child who remains in foster care for more than 18 months will be put on an adoption track. In Israel, foster children are rarely adopted, because revoking parental rights is an almost impossible task. This distinction creates a very different mindset for the organizations, and for the therapeutic approach.
• Foster family recruitment is a major challenge in both Israel and New York. However, because of government support, JCCA is able to provide its foster families with a great deal of support, making more viable the prospect of raising an adopted child in New York. Orr Shalom hopes to find funds to enable JCCA to provide better support to foster parents.
• Another significant difference relates to the treatment of the children’s biological parents. In New York, the foster care agency (JCCA) has the responsibility of treating both the child and his/her parents. While in Israel, a Municipal government social worker has the responsibility of working with the parents and the foster care agency (Orr Shalom) alone has the responsibility for the child. Orr Shalom makes every effort to engage our children’s biological parents because of their importance to the development of the child. Merav and Anat saw first hand how a family-centered approach can benefit both the children and parents. Merav and Anat plan to educate the government about the benefits of the New York approach, with the hope of changing the Israeli system.

This visit was the beginning of a wonderful partnership between the two agencies, and personal friendships between colleagues that will continue long distance. JCCA professionals plan to travel to Israel in the Fall to visit Orr Shalom. Both organizations are deeply committed to a common cause and will work together to improve the lives of children in both Israel and New York.