Gush Etzion Foundation

Families with children (and adults) with special needs routinely face a complex reality, which includes: medical and paramedical treatments, extensive travel for care, different attitudes/reactions from friends and social crowds, the care of additional siblings, and much more.

The Tzamid Mothers’ Forum focuses on planning events and additional activities that will strengthen families during this journey and will contribute to the family. These events will have a special focus on the mothers of the family in order to assist them in overcoming the day-to-day difficulties and challenges.

The forum is a branch of the “Parent’s Forum” for children with special needs and has a manager/coordinator for special needs populations through the local community center, who organizes regularly scheduled meetings in order to build the most beneficial programs tailored towards issues that arise for this population.

The forum is an empowering space and a key for mothers, which works to promote and develop programs and events offering respite, learning, and leisure, in order to increase the resilience and sense of belonging for those involved. The initiative puts the mothers front and center out of the understanding that they are the heart of the home, and when their resilience increases, the whole family benefits.

Also, since the mothers are the key caregivers, the impact of their participation in the programming will rub off in the future on the whole family – including the fathers, their direction forward as a couple in their reality, and will also impact siblings, and of course will positively impact the special needs child.

The forum works in coordination with the local authorities in Gush Etzion, in order to maximize its resources.