A lifeline during war: Kesher provides for families of children with disabilities - opinion

Shilat (not her real name), a resident of Nahariya, is a single mother to a 3-year-old girl with autism. 

They live in a house without a safe room, and every time there’s a siren in the area, they are forced to run to the neighborhood’s public shelter. 

When Hezbollah’s firing towards the coastal city was relatively scarce, they managed to cope, but during the last months of escalation in the North, the situation became unbearable for them. 

Besides the constant and life-threatening shelling to the area, they could also clearly hear the intense IDF attacks over Lebanon.

As Shilat’s daughter suffers from high sensitivity to noises, every sound startles and unsettles her deeply. 

Not being entitled to public evacuation programs or emergency allocations based on rigid geographic parameters, Shilat did what any mother in her position would do – She packed some of their belongings and ran away to stay in hotels as far as possible. 

Four weeks later, the money ran out and they were both forced to return home.

Facing the tragic and symbolically twisted reality of last Sukkot, being left with no choice but to move in and spend entire nights in the public shelter, and as her daughter just wouldn’t stop crying, Shilat first contacted Kesher, asking for support.

With the help of committed partners, Kesher’s aid and assistance center found them a temporary relocation solution, as we keep working to secure them a more permanent arrangement.

There are 1.7 million people with disabilities in Israel, including approximately 338,300 children and adolescents. 

In “regular” times, their families face challenges in all areas of life that can easily turn into ongoing crises, spanning therapeutic and caring overload, emotional strain, social isolation, stress, and economic and occupational challenges. 

Families evacuated during the war 

Since the onset of the war, approximately 9,000 families of children and adults with disabilities have been evacuated from combat zones and adjacent areas in the North and South. 

The October 7 massacre, followed by the continuous state of emergency, created profound upheavals for these families. 

During the last year they have and still face trauma, complex needs, dread, and increased difficulties, including impaired functioning and limited access to appropriate educational and rehabilitation frameworks.

The war has also strongly intensified difficulties for these families on the home front – especially those of reservists, single parents, and families with more than one child with special needs – bringing new anxieties and growing challenges in daily life. 

The sudden disruption of routine and worsening lack of services have led to regression, significant independence reduction, and in some cases, even physically endanger the behavior among children with special needs.

Even more so, in the current reality of increasing attacks on northern regions, many families of children with special needs in non-evacuated areas are forced to adapt to a situation nearly impossible to endure. 

Yet, despite these growing needs, there is still a significant shortage of properly functioning government-operated or government-funded solutions across many related fields. 

These include social services, housing, health and employment frameworks for adults with special needs, educational programs and institutions for children with special needs in the affected areas, as well as dedicated national-level support programs for their families. 

WHEN PARENTS, siblings, and even grandparents seek support and assistance, they are often directed to services for the general population that do not adequately address their specific needs.

Such is Moria’s case (not her real name either), also a resident of the Western Galilee and a mother of a child with autism, who requested our assistance in finding an alternative place to live and a new educational and therapeutic setting for her son. 

Due to the frequent red alerts in her area, her son’s functioning deteriorated; he stopped eating, lost weight, experienced anxiety attacks, and more. 

Moria was forced to evacuate even though she is not eligible for state funding and therefore did not receive assistance from the authorities for several nerve-wracking months. 

For the last three decades, Kesher – The Home for Special Families has been devoted to promoting the rights and welfare of families with children and adults with special needs. 

We believe that empowered and involved parents and families are the source of strength and hope for their children, playing a decisive role in their development and all aspects of life. 

Kesher provides comprehensive solutions for families of children and adults with all types of disabilities, spanning all population groups: Jews, Arabs, religious, ultra-Orthodox, and secular. Our programs are specifically tailored to the unique needs of family caregivers, drawing on extensive experience and expertise in the field. 

Kesher provides support 

THROUGHOUT THE last year, Kesher has stepped up to provide responses to the roaring needs of professional guidance for parents and other family members with special needs nationwide. 

This includes strengthening resilience, providing tools to deal with the emergency situation, the feelings that arise, the challenges in the family, and much more. 

Kesher’s team of experienced therapists offers vital support to families through emotional guidance, parental support, sibling training, and case management, as parents can reach out to us directly or through local authorities.

Kesher has already delivered over 1,200 support sessions, helping parents and family members cope with trauma, challenging behaviors, and the overwhelming realities of war. 

Additionally, more than 7,500 individuals have participated in workshops and lectures aimed at equipping family members with techniques for effective interventions.

The impact is clear: Kesher has assisted thousands of special families since the beginning of the war, including many displaced from the South and the North. 

The organization has been providing legal expertise to help them navigate the complex landscape of rights under current conditions, while working tirelessly with local authorities and government bodies to secure their rights and ensure access to appropriate care and educational frameworks.

In this time of unprecedented hardship, Kesher has been – and will continue to be – a lifeline and a beacon of hope for Israel’s special families. 

Along with the assistance in finding solutions for complex and immediate needs, as acute as securing life-saving rehabilitation medical equipment, families turned to us and received assistance regarding a wide range of issues.

As the war continues, we stand in solidarity with the families of the fallen and pray for the safe return of the hostages in Gaza. 

We remain steadfast in our support for the soldiers on all fronts and for all residents living under the constant threat of terror. 

The writer is executive director of Kesher – The Home for Special Families.