Israel’s Welfare Ministry will begin opening new residential placements for children aged 3 to 6 who have been removed from their homes, after years of avoiding permanent institutional settings for this age group. The ministry’s prior approach held that foster families, not institutions, are the best solution for children under 8.
According to a call for proposals sent to welfare residential facilities, five groups will be launched in the first stage, with up to eight children in each group. They will operate inside existing boarding facilities, but in a separate area designed to provide a “safe, gradually expanding space.” The ministry says children will be placed there only “after all best community-based solutions have been exhausted.”
The move comes as Israel faces a worsening shortage of foster families. Welfare officials say many children are stuck for long periods in emergency centers meant for short stays. About 80 children are currently waiting for a permanent foster family, and roughly a quarter of them have special needs. Officials warn that this creates a double problem, because children who need to leave home have nowhere to go, while others remain in temporary care too long, which can worsen their condition.
Etti Kisus, head of the Social and Personal Services Administration at the Welfare Ministry, said the decision followed years of data analysis on out-of-home placements, especially for children who moved repeatedly between settings. She said some children would struggle to adapt to foster care, including those with severe behavioral challenges, and would be better placed from the start in a setting where they can remain for a meaningful period. “Unsuitable foster placements collapse and break apart, and then we lose twice,” she said. “The child experiences another move and the families do not always agree to another fostering arrangement. We are working to reduce moves, so we decided to open the children’s groups.”
The ministry also said the new groups could help place removed children together with older siblings, avoiding the split that current policy often forces. At the same time, it is trying to expand the foster family pool, including through a significant increase in the monthly maintenance allowance foster parents receive. A 2023 State Comptroller report had warned that very young children in institutional care could harm their ability to form secure attachments and could damage development.
