Associations that deal with the placement and accompaniment of children and foster families warn of the severe and critical shortage of emergency foster families in Israel.
The shortage and hardship have existed for several years and have increased during the Corona period, but contrary to expectations, the situation has not improved, and today, after the long holiday and the holidays, it seems that the hardship is even increasing.
There are currently only 30 emergency foster families in the whole country, and that is not enough.
These are families that use temporary foster care and immediately take in babies and children at risk for short periods - usually up to three months, until it is decided which permanent framework is suitable for them, such as foster care, adoption or return to the parents' home.
Families who use emergency nannies are required to be available 24 hours a day to take in at-risk children, and around 200 children are in emergency nannies across the country at any given moment.
Most of the distress exists in the south of the country and in the north.
Mira Varker, manager of recruiting foster families at the Summit Institute, which operates in the southern region and Jerusalem, says that "the biggest challenge in recruiting families for an emergency nanny is finding a family where one of the spouses will be fully available. A child can arrive on Saturday night, or early in the morning. Emergency nanny families are supposed to To be a temporary stop on the child's journey, a kind of emergency room. During this time they take care of him and calm him down. Sometimes this is the first sane place a child comes to."
Emergency foster families are supposed to be a temporary stop on the child's journey, illustration, photo: Getty Images
Attorney Shani Mi-Tal, emergency nanny coordinator at the Adenam organization operating in the north of the country, says: "The load, especially in this period, is great, and it is difficult to recruit new families as emergency nanny families.
The families take in children in traumatic situations, sometimes after abuse or severe neglect, and the emergency foster families serve as a safe place for the children."
The children are with the families for short periods, but there are also rare cases where children are with the emergency foster families for extended periods.
So, for example, one of the families has a pair of little brothers who were removed from their home and have been staying with the emergency foster families for a year and four months, because they cannot find a foster family for them.
"Saving souls for its own sake"
The criteria required to start the process are spouses up to the age of 55, with parenting experience, the youngest child in the family over 10 years old and one of the spouses having full availability.
By law, emergency foster families remain confidential in order to maintain their safety and the safety of the children staying with them.
Hana (pseudonym) has been an emergency foster mother for more than 20 years.
She doesn't even remember the last time she went on vacation, but she doesn't complain.
"For me it's saving lives for its own sake," she says and adds: "There is tremendous satisfaction in that, and the goal is to help as many children as possible who are in a situation where they do not have a safe home and who are in danger. I call on everyone who can, open your heart and your home and give a warm, good place And safe for these children."
"It's saving lives for its own sake", illustration, photo: GettyImages
Hana serves as an emergency nanny for babies, often also for babies a few days old who come to her straight from the hospital, and despite her age, 60 plus, she continues to get up at night every three hours and take care of babies 24 hours a day, without complaining.
Every child is a whole world for her, and she is happy to be the one who sometimes gives him the first hug, who sees the first smile and the first steps.
"Nothing compares to the innocent smile, look and eyes of the baby I am holding in my hands. The satisfaction of going to bed at night knowing that thanks to you someone ate, drank and slept in a safe place - is worth every sacrifice in life," she says.
Rachel Levin Iger, director of the children and foster families service at the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security: "The ministry calls on families who consider themselves suitable to take in a child in need of a warm, loving, supportive and embracing family, to contact at any time the 118 hotline of the Ministry of Welfare or to contact foster care bodies that are supervised, financed and accompanied by Ministry of Welfare".
Families interested in joining the emergency nanny system are invited to contact the Summit Institute's website: www.summit.org.il, or by calling the Adnam Institute at *4561.
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