Country Profile: Israel
Population approx: 9.2 Million
Children under the age of 18: 3.05 Million
Country situation:
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 3 million children and teens are living in Israel. Out of them 2.2 million (72.4%) are Jewish and 737,000 (24.2%) are Arab. Over 350,000 children in Israel are considered at-risk.
Roughly 20,400 children live in institutions (youth villages). Approximately 10,000 children have been removed from their homes by the Ministry of Welfare and 25 % of them are in foster care.
Foster care and adoption in Israel is according to religion, meaning Jewish families can only adopt Jewish children, and the same for Christians and Muslims. Culture and language are also factored into the family placements.
There is an average of 120 adoptions a year in Israel. The State often gives preference to keeping children at-risk within the welfare system, whether in an institution or in foster care. The government works to rehabilitate the biological family, but there is no law that stipulates the amount of time given for rehabilitation. Therefore, a child can get stuck in the welfare system, rather than being moved over to a more permanent family placement.
Towards a National Movement in Israel:
HaTikva Families believes that caring for orphans and vulnerable children is a mandate for the global Body of Messiah and one of the purest expressions of the Gospel. HaTikva Families equips families to respond to the orphaned and vulnerable child (OVC) crisis in Israel through adoption and foster care and encourages the Israeli Body of Messiah to take a leading role in this effort.
HaTikva Families recruits and equips families to host, foster, and adopt through awareness campaigns, conferences, and seminars and provides guidance and support to foster and adoptive families. HaTikva Families also partners with other organizations in the field so that collective efforts will have a greater impact for OVC in Israel.
Contact: HaTikva Families https://hatikvafamilies.org/en