The children's legal
counslling center
Introduction
Tens of thousands of children in Israel find themselves
without a place to turn to with their daily problems.
These problems can be domestic or school violence,
questions that they have about drug use or about their
work right, and even questions about sexual harassment.
In Israel there are very few organizations offering help
to troubled children & youth. Studies of relation to the
amount of approaches done by children to these bodies
and to their effectiveness reveal that despite their
distress these troubled children do not turn to these
organizations for help.
Thus, a young boy aware of his distress does not know
where to turn to. At times; his distress branches out to
several fields (for example: drugs; violence and sex)
and there isn’t any one organization that can give him
answers to all his needs.
In order to give these children a shoulder to cry on and
to tackle their problems at an early stage with initial
treatment, the foundation of The children's legal
counslling center
was founded. The foundation will strive do all that can
be done in order to rise awareness to child and youth
rights, and to assist them in fulfilling said rights.
The way the commission operates:
Distress centers:
The foundation will set up emergency centers that will,
as much as possible, operate around the clock every day
of the year, and will be manned by a qualified staff.
The commission’s staff will include many volunteers that
will be taught how to respond to the child and youth
seeking help, and what help should be given to them.
Additionally, the staff will include trained
professionals that will handle extremely difficult cases
and assist the volunteers in their work.
Thus, Among the trained professionals there will be
found psychologists, social workers & lawyers that will
give the necessary response if and when needed.
Further more, the emergency center will seek out
children from all over the country & comply with their
specific needs whether they come from non religious,
religious or Arab sectors of the population.
As mentioned above, the center will house volunteers and
staff that will be trained especially for this highly
sensitive work. The operators will sit in front of
computers containing a country wide data base required
for the necessary assistance, including data about
hospitals, schools, help centers, authorities etc’. The
trained operator will talk to the children seeking help;
encourage them to talk to him, guide them through the
steps they must now take, and divert them to the
suitable places best qualified to handle the problem,
according to the child’s whereabouts, age and the
urgency of the problem.
The emergency center will include two professional
divisions: a social division and a legal division. The
social division will examine the child and youth
problems and will try to solve them working in
accordance with the various authorities. This division
will consist of social workers, psychologists and
guidance counsels. The legal division will give
counseling in cases requiring urgent legal intervention,
and to the various activists as to how they should
handle themselves in general.
With these activities the commission will attain an
important goal: a multi-dimensional yet simple
organization suited for dealing with child and youth
problems in a way never before seen in Israel, and in a
standard of service the most advanced societies are
accustomed to.
Further activities:
Support sessions-helping the child by ways of close
monitoring:
The commission will strive to operate special support
sessions for children seeking help, where they will
intertwine with the trained professionals who are ready
to help them, and escort them the entire length of the
way, and with their dealings with the various
authorities.
Commissioning studies
In addition, the commission will strive to carry out
demographical & various socio-economical studies, the
goal being to get the ball rolling on various activities
within the different sectors, in the hopes that these
activities will increase the level of awareness among
children & youth concerning their rights and the
commissions activities. Thus, the commission will become
a highly important address for children and youth
seeking help, and a central crossroad for data &
information in the field of child and youth rights.
Legislative work
The commission will initiate various laws to insure
child & youth rights, and will lobby to better the
quality of life of the children of Israel.
Public awareness
The commission for child & youth complaints will develop
special projects for disabled children suffering from
disabilities such as Down syndrome or motorical
difficulties, and will strive to find a systematical
solution for their special problems.
Awareness amongst the youth & the children
The commission will conduct seminars and training
sessions for children in children’s school counsels in
order to establish young leadership, aware of the child
and youth problems. The commission will work to
integrate the values of human rights among bodies
working with children such as youth movements and
children’s counsels.
Bettering the lines of communications between child and
adult:
Only a direct and immediate line of communication with
the child population not via establishments familiar to
them will achieve the much wanted result in an era where
the gap between children and grownups widens constantly,
and the lack of communication between the two worlds
feeds the frustration, the antagonism towards the
establishment, and the violence which can be seen now
amongst children of much younger age.
We believe that the existence of a countrywide center
for troubled children and youth will lessen the gap, and
contribute to the reaching of a new closeness and
understanding between children and the grownup
establishment.
Innovative Israeli Initiative: Codex of Laws for
Children
"The Rules of the Game"
We are interested in hearing the public opinion about a
rights-based law related project of ours: "Book of laws
for Children".
In these days, we have concluded two years worth of
efforts on a rights-based volunteer social initiative –
the creation of a codex of laws for children and new
immigrants. In this publication, we have included nearly
all of the major laws of the State of Israel, presented
in a simple and user-friendly language, suitable for
children and new immigrants and accompanied by
eye-opening illustrations.
Nearly 700 attorneys took part in the preparation of
this codex and the introduction was drafted by the Chief
Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Dorit Beinish. The
book was published by the Israeli bar association. This
is a project whose aim is to encourage a love and
awareness of the law among children and youth, and to
encourage humane behavior.
Rationale of the Project:
The special democratic model of the State of Israel is
under threat. Israeli society is becoming more and more
of a caste system, divided among ethnic and cultural
lines of Arabs, Secular Jews, Ultra-Orthodox Jews,
Christians, Russian immigrants, Ethiopians etc. Each
group has its own particular curricula, literature,
history, language, and values.
As a result, before our very eyes, the next generation
of citizens is developing – lacking a common language
and a common understanding. Verbal and physical violence
become the language of choice among the future
generation of each of these classes: a new Tower of
Babel is forming.
The violence among youth results, in part, from lack of
framework and structure about what is permitted and what
is forbidden, from changes in the hierarchy of adults
and children and from breach of the balance between the
weight of the messages from media and the weight of the
boundaries and values dictated by society.
We believe that the democratic process of knowledge and
love of the law and of social order will create a common
denominator as to what is permitted and what is
forbidden and will give skills to children and youth to
enable them to understand their social surroundings and
will teach them to defend their honor, their bodies and
their souls, and to act likewise towards others.
The book in the Hebrew form is already ready and as I
write this letter, it is being translated into
Arabic, Russian, and Amharic in the hopes that the
distribution of the book as a gift to all children in
the country will educate conflict resolution skills,
create a common language between members of the
different communities living in the country and create a
new approach of respect for the rule of law and for one
another out of understanding and love.
We are aware that before children begin to play a game,
they first must establish the rules and guidelines: What
is permissible and what is not? What is the penalty for
breaking the rules and what is the rationale of the
game? But the rules of the real game- the game of life
are not taught in any school.
The book contains 300 pages of colorful illustrations,
its size and form are attractive and eye-catching. The
ministry of education and the ministry of culture have
agreed to distribute the book in the nation's public
schools, as has the Jewish Agency, youth groups, the
teachers' guild. The Knesset and the president's
residence are also interested in distributing them to
children who come to visit those sites.
Until this point, we have all worked on a strictly
volunteer basis such that the this initiative has been
progressing at no cost whatsoever. All that remains is
for us to find a fiscal sponsor who will consent to fund
the cost of printing 100,000 copies of the book.
The cost of printing 100,000 books is 10 NIS per book
(approx, USD $2.33 each or USD$233,000 in total)
We would be grateful for your assistance in this
important endeavor.
Sincerely,
Roni Aloni-Sadovnick, Founding Director
The Children's Legal Counseling Center
Return Address: The Children's Legal Counseling Center,
P.O. Box 1129, Tel Aviv 61112
Tel: (972) 52-572-7776
Email:
ronione@netvision.net.il
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