At the Israel Council on Social Welfare (ESPAnet) conference late last month, social workers treating the teens and children who have returned from Hamas captivity had much to say about the challenges that these dozens of young people and their families are facing.
In the months since the first hostage release deal, when children as young as three were brought back to Israel, each returning hostage has experienced reintegration differently. Some children have fully or partially returned to their educational frameworks, while others have not returned at all. Very few have undergone traditional psychological treatment, as many are unwilling to process their experience of captivity.
Adi Bashiri, a social worker from the Eshkol Regional Council working with children who were hostages, said that the greatest challenge faced by the families is their crisis of faith in state institutions. Despite the challenges, Bashiri said, social workers continue to work with the families in support systems organized by the state, together with community nurses and representatives from the military and the Ministry of Education.
Eti Hazut, head of the Social Services Department in Yavne, expressed a similar sentiment. “One of the biggest challenges is working with families of returnees and hostages,” he said. “The mixture of anticipation, hope, helplessness, and the immense difficulty of rehabilitation.”
The key principles in supporting these families are tailoring an individualized plan for each one that grants the former hostage complete freedom of choice, the social workers explained. Yael Tzhori, a social worker from Herzliya, said that the individualized, client-led nature of the work requires flexibility and open-mindedness. “Before taking on this role, I would never have considered giving my private phone number to clients or sitting for an hour in a café with a client because that’s what is needed,” she explained.
Or Tzuberi, who’s in charge of cases related to the current war and the October 7 attacks in the Ministry of Welfare, said that children returning from captivity often benefit from access to responsible figures close to their age. “So we assigned such a figure to everyone who requested it and continue to support them,” Tzuberi said.
Another crucial aspect of caring for returned hostages is involving the community. “I find myself explaining to all professionals working with the hostage families that announcing a hostage's return to their community is a fundamental act,” Bashiri said. “The hostage isn’t returning to an unfamiliar building but to neighbors and friends who have been with them their entire lives.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Matthew Levy.
