Tebeka’s Center for Children’s Rights

Legal Aid and Counseling Services: The Center for Children’s Rights aims to ensure the health, safety, education and social well-being of Ethiopian Israeli children and their families. Tebeka’s staff of attorneys and therapists provides legal advocacy, counseling and cultural mediation for children and their parents in dealing with family matters, school authorities, social services and the courts.

Key issues addressed through the Center for Children’s Rights include:

• Discrimination against Ethiopian Israeli children in educational settings
• Unwarranted placements of Ethiopian Israeli children in social services, boarding schools and other institutions too often requested by public officials
• Incorrect diagnoses resulting in the placement of Ethiopian Israeli children in special education classes
• The lack of culturally sensitive services and solutions provided by schools, public agencies and the courts
• The accessibility of information regarding civil rights, educational rights and social entitlements

The Center also offers workshops to help parents from Ethiopia learn about child-rearing in Israel and about family budgeting and financial planning in a modern economy.

Tebeka’s Center for Children’s Rights

The Parent’s Corner

Aligned with the Center’s approach of the family as a unit formed by interrelated individuals, group meetings are offered to Ethiopian Israeli parents in order to address the variety of challenges they face. These meetings cover a wide range of topics, such as the challenges of cultural adaptation, parental authority, civil rights, and the challenges facing their children, who often have one foot in modern Israeli society, while the other remains anchored in their family’s traditional past. These workshops are given by the Director of the Center for Children’s Rights, with the precious assistance of Ethiopian Israeli students who volunteer to translate.