Haruv Institute - Annual Report 2016 - Summary

Study and Training Programs in the Field of Education

Activities in Schools Sponsored by the Haruv Institute - The educational framework is central and significant in a child’s life - it is where he spends most of his childhood years and the greater part of each day. The centrality and importance of this framework is many times greater for maltreated children. These children are at the greatest risk, as the source of the risk is their own home and family, where the person, whose most natural role is to protect the child, is the one who harms him. At the early stages, the educator plays a central and significant role in the child’s life, especially for the maltreated child. Although the educational framework is central and meaningful in the child’s life, a survey on violence towards children and adolescents in Israel - done by the Center for Social Research at Haifa University, in collaboration with the Education Ministry and the initiative and funding of the Triana Company - found that over 50% of the children who were victims of sexual or physical abuse, firmly refused to discuss their experience with professionals – teachers, school counselors, social workers, doctors and nurses. The survey further revealed that of all the reports on physical or sexual abuse that the children themselves initiated, only ten percent were shared with the teacher or school counselor. Recognizing the centrality of the educational system in detecting and identifying maltreated children, the Haruv Institute has set a goal to expand its training programs to include the formal education workers in the system, for different age groups. In 2016 the Haruv Institute started visiting the teachers’ rooms in schools, with the understanding that the school staff (teachers and administrators) is the main target population that can disseminate the information, as the staff members fulfill the role of the significant adult for children in general, and for maltreated children in particular. The aim of the sessions at the schools was to provide the staff with tools to help detect and identify maltreated children, and when there is suspected abuse, tools to deal with the child and his family and to contact the treatment agencies within the community. The subjects raised in the training programs are tailored to each school individually.

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