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 Several years ago, our social work staff determined that there was an urgent and critical need in the community that was not being met. When a parent is absent due to illness, an injury, or incarceration, or if the family undergoes an unusual level of financial distress, the child is left unsupervised and is placed in the at-risk situations present on Jaffa's streets.
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 To respond to the needs of neglected and abused children, the Jaffa Institute established a Crisis Intervention Center. The Center, opened in November 2000, operates according to two principles. The first is to provide immediate relief, both physical and emotional, to children in crisis. In particular, when children undergo a crisis, it is important for them to remain in their neighborhoods so that they can continue studying at their schools, see their friends, and have the opportunity to be visited, under supervision if necessary, by their family. The second principle is to resolve the crisis situation either by facilitating the return of the child to his or her home -- assuming stability has been restored -- or by finding an alternative, long-term arrangement in the event of irreconcilable domestic problems. Acceptable long-term solutions include placing the child with his/her extended family, with foster parents, or at a suitable boarding school. All children are referred to the Center by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality Department of Labor and Social Welfare, and the staff at the Center work closely with the Department to resolve each crisis.
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 Following is the story of one of the children that spent two years in the Neve Ofer Center: "In the middle of the night, neighbors in a building of one-room apartments in Tel Aviv heard a child screaming and crying for hours without end. They went to investigate, and when they knocked there was no answer except for the crying of the child. They alerted the superintendent of the building who forced open the door. Inside was a baby less then two years old, in a dirty diaper. The police arrived and they in turn alerted the Tel Aviv Social Welfare Department. The child was brought to the Crisis Intervention Center in Neve Ofer in the middle of the night. An investigation revealed that the parents were both drug addicts and had abandoned the child. At first the child could not be left alone in a room. After months of close warm attention from the house parents at Neve Ofer, the child began to play with other children and exhibit other appropriate social behavior. The parents never contacted any of the welfare authorities in Tel Aviv."
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 The Jaffa Institute Crisis Intervention Center gives priority to children residing in South Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and Bat Yam. There is provision to care for up to 12 children at any one time. Children up to 16 years of age, who have been recommended by the City's social work staff for removal from their family, are referred into the Center. The Center operates 365 days a year, and children are able to remain there for a maximum period of one year. This length of time ensures a proper transition period in which the child can learn to confront his or her dilemma, and in which the Center's social work staff, the child and family can work out an optimum solution. The average length of stay is 6 to 8 months.
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The Crisis Intervention Center is operated by a professional staff consisting of resident "house parents," two part-time social workers, and two tutors. The model of care adopted by the Crisis Center is that of a warm and loving nuclear family: something which many of the children in our care have never experienced. The resident "house parents" are a married couple with three children of their own, and thus children referred to the Center are immediately accepted into a warm and loving family environment. The Jaffa Institute established the Crisis Intervention Center to provide not only a refuge for children in crisis situations, but also to work with local authorities to find a long-term solution to the crisis, thus helping to build foundations for a stable future. The success of the Crisis Center is measured by finding long-term solutions for the welfare of the at-risk children in its care.
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Coming Soon! - Emergency Residential Facility in Bat Yam - As was the case in Jaffa, the city of Bat Yam lacks a "family model" residential center for children who need to be removed from their home due to abuse, neglect, or an absent parent. With approval of the Ministry of Welfare and based on the success of the first Crisis Intervention Center, the Jaffa Institute will open a new residential facility for Bat Yam's at-risk children. Jaffa Institute's social workers will play a large role in the rehabilitation process as they will be readily available to provide emotional support for the children at the Center. Further, the house parents will receive daily, detailed guidance from these social workers on how to support each individual child.
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