Jerusalem Hills Therapeutic Centers

The Children's Home at the Abu Gosh campus and the Kemper Group Home for Adolescent Boys in Jerusalem offer a stable home environment, therapeutic treatment and special education to boys and girls, ages 7 to 19, from all sectors of Israeli society, emotionally troubled at-risk children and adolescents requiring relocation to a therapeutic environment. These children are often victims of emotional and physical abuse, neglect, rejection, or desertion. They have learned from an early age to hide their fear and despair behind a barrier of rage and distrust, often accompanied by aggressive and destructive behavior.

$1,200 a month will go towards closing the per child gap between Israel government assistance and actual costs to maintain the high quality therapeutic and educational services that contribute to the practically 70% rehabilitation rate for the 124 children in our care and their families.. This support also provides extensive  resources, training and workshops for our staff to ensure that we maintain the best level of professional care.

The Psychological Services Program

The psychological services provided are the cornerstone of our system. This integrative system of care provides intense psychological treatment on a long term basis. This type of long-term intensive treatment is not available to children outside of a residential setting.  The program of Psychological Services incorporates three different aspects of the psychological care supplied: Diagnostics, therapy and special staff training.

$3500 per child per year

Social Services: Family Therapy Program

As an integral part of our unique therapeutic philosophy, the Jerusalem Hills Therapeutic Centers (JHTC) places emphasis on working with the parents/family of each child under its care, for as long as the child remains at our facilities. By working to rehabilitate both the children and the parents of fractured families, we are working to effect social change and strengthen Israeli society.

$1500 per family per year

Vacation Group Project – Children Who Remain 365 Days a Year

The increasing number of children who have no home to go to during holiday vacations, need special attention and additional therapeutic support. For these children, whose family situation is too destructive or threatening  to allow them to go home, the Children's Home continues its operations 365 days a year.  A child who on the eve of a holiday must remain on campus, because there is no one who can take him in and offer love and security, is a child whose sadness never leaves his eyes. We invest a lot of thought, effort and expense in order to ensure that each of these children, who have no one else, believe and feel that the world is there for them too and that he or she is deserving of a place in our society.

$6,000 per child per year

Project Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Each year at the Children's Home 10-15 boys and girls celebrate their Bar/Bat mitzvah and are provided by the Home with every facet of this important day. The boys and girls, wait in great anticipation for their turn to celebrate this joyous occasion.  The project includes training for reading the Torah portion and being called up to the Torah at the synagogue, new clothes, a festive dinner for family (whenever possible) and guests, together with the children and staff. In addition, the children's unit and staff have a full-day's field trip and outing, and the Home presents each child with a personal gift.

Yearly program cost: $13,000

                     The Teen Girls Empowerment Program for Severely At Risk Teen Girls

Our three year Teen Girls Empowerment Residential Treatment Program provides a much-needed individualized residential, therapeutic and educational framework. It is one of the only programs in the country to do so.  This program provides a model which other institutions can adopt in order to target the increasing problem of teenage girls at risk in Israel. The potential of each girl to overcome a lifetime of struggle, isolation, and despair motivates our staff to continually expand each individual's capabilities and quality of life, and to build responsible adults and parents, and productive citizens. By requiring integrity and commitment we empower the whole teen girl through discovery and encouragement.

$1600 a month per teen girl

Group Home Life Skills and Independent Living Program

This program provides supervised apartment living and basic life skills training to some of our more vulnerable youngsters, who will  soon be graduating from the group home and affords them the opportunity to experience life just as they will when they become adults. For some of our youngsters leaving the group home environment is a jarring experience. Our unique program teaches basic skills such as personal budgeting, organizing a bank account, paying bills, maintaining an apartment, grocery shopping, cooking and more. Together, they work with each youth to establish the independent living skills needed to support themselves in the community.

$2,500 per participant per month

Special Therapeutic Programs

The children in our care have severe emotional and behavioral disturbances as a result of their traumatic backgrounds. They often exhibit a range of difficult symptoms including fear, rage, distrust of adults and destructive or violent behavior. Many of them do not  benefit from conventional therapies alone. Our alternative therapies which among others include art therapy, music therapy, crafts therapy, bibliotherapy and pet therapy enable them to explore difficult emotions in an intuitive, non-verbal  way. This supports their recovery  and helps facilitate our overall goal; to rehabilitate the children so that they can reenter mainstream society and go on to lead normative lives.

$1,000 per participant per year