The ecosystem of healing

On April 9th, a familiar scene unfolded across Israel: the morning rush, the sounds of students running to classrooms, and the encouraging smiles of parents at the school gates. According to the Education Ministry, more than 2.5 million Israeli children returned to the classroom this week. Among them were 180,000 excited first-graders taking their very first steps into formal education and 149,000 seniors beginning their final lap. From the 340,000 children in mandatory kindergarten to the nearly 200,000 in pre-K, the energy of a “new normal” was everywhere.

But at ELI (The Israel Association for the Protection of Children), we know that for many of these children, the back-to-school season isn't just about backpacks and books. For those living in the shadow of abuse or domestic trauma, the return to a structured environment often acts as a catalyst. As teachers and counselors begin to observe their students daily, we see a predictable and heartbreaking wave of new cases coming through our doors.

When a child is referred to us, the instinct of most systems is to focus solely on that child, as the identified patient. People want to fix the broken branch. But at ELI, we have learned through decades of experience that you cannot simply treat a child and send them back into the same broken ecosystem that allowed the trauma to occur in the first place.

This is the core of our Single Point of Entry philosophy. Imagine a tree where one branch is withering. You can prune it, water it, and give it special care, but if the soil is toxic or the roots are diseased, that branch will never truly thrive. In the world of child abuse, the soil is the family unit.

When a child suffers, the entire family is impacted. There are siblings who may have witnessed the abuse or who are living in a state of chronic neglect because the parents are in crisis. There are parents who, in many cases, were victims of abuse themselves and lack the emotional tools to protect or nurture their children.

If we only provide therapy to the victim, we are essentially sending a healing child back into a battlefield. It is unsustainable. This is why ELI’s approach is holistic. When a child enters our care, we don’t just open a file for them; we open a door for the family.

We treat the victim to help them reclaim their sense of safety. We treat the siblings to break the cycle of secondary trauma. And, where possible, we work with the parents to address the root causes of the family’s dysfunction. By treating the whole tree including their roots, trunk, and branches, simultaneously, we ensure that the recovery is not just a temporary fix, but a long-term transformation.

As 2.5 million children settle back into their desks, our mission is to ensure that the new wave of cases we receive are truly healed. To learn more about our work and how you can support the safety of Israel’s children, visit ELI-USA.org.

Eran Zimrin is the CEO of ELI – Israel Association for Child Protection, founded in 1979 to prevent and treat child abuse in Israel. To support their mission, visit the American Friends of ELI.