Skip to content
To the educational center

Yeladim - Fair Chance for Children Education – Life Skills & Capacity Building Program

Social-Emotional Learning for Growth, Belonging, and Stability

“Our kids carry a lot. Sometimes it feels like I’m holding them together with both hands. Through your training sessions, I learned how to breathe again – and how to build relationships with them that actually last.”
Racheli, 24, residential care counselor

Approximately 6,500 children and adolescents grow up in Israel’s welfare boarding schools.
Many arrive carrying complex life experiences, emotional distress, and – too often – without a single adult who was able to hold their hand before they reached the school gates.
Around them work nearly 2,500 professionals: counselors, educators, teachers, and therapists. They stand on the front lines of care, asked – day after day – to be a stable presence for children who have already experienced repeated separations, trauma, and long-standing loneliness.
Yeladim’s Education Program operates precisely at the point where these two worlds meet:
between children who are trying to trust adults again, and staff who need meaningful support, training, and high-quality tools to succeed in this demanding role.
We believe that strong education begins with a human connection. From that foundation, we build a comprehensive educational framework – professional, stable, values-based—that reaches every child and every staff member in residential care.

Free, Innovative Educational Technology

We believe social-emotional education is a basic right. Our materials are open to all educational settings – boarding schools, schools, youth movements, community centers, and informal education frameworks.
Sylla, our digital platform, brings together hundreds of SEL units, group activities, resilience exercises, and facilitation tools. It is designed so that any counselor, teacher, or educator can log in, select an activity, and use it immediately.

Access the Digital Educational Content Library >>

While our core work takes place in welfare boarding schools, all our educational content, resources, and curricula are also available – free of charge – to schools, youth movements, community centers, and other educational organizations. Any educator in Israel can access and use them.

Our Educational Approach

Our philosophy is both simple and complex: the relationship between an adult and a child is the primary engine of change in residential care.This approach rests on several core principles:

Relationship before content

Without safety, stability, and recognition, meaningful learning cannot take place.

Choice and belonging

In spaces where children experienced a loss of control, we restore voice, agency, and participation.

Practical tools for staff

Teams need resources that work tomorrow morning - not theory locked in a textbook. Every program is designed to be easy to implement and broad in impact.

Cultural responsiveness

Residential schools serve all sectors of Israeli society - Jewish, Arab, ultra-Orthodox, traditional, Druze. Our content is adapted to each cultural context.

Integration of emotional, educational, and social knowledge

Trauma, emotional regulation, SEL, social skills, dialogue, and democratic participation are woven into daily practice.

Impact: The Numbers Behind the Change

  • 6500

    children

    reached each year through educational programming

  • 2500

    residential care staff

    receive training and ongoing support

  • 1000

    active SEL units

    and educational lessons

  • 250000

    educators nationwide

    use our educational content annually

Behind these numbers are moments: a new counselor finding a way to connect, a child speaking for the first time about what scares her, a group of teens launching a social initiative. Small moments that add up to real change

What Is SEL – and Why Does It Matter in Residential Care?

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) equips children with tools to understand themselves, regulate emotions, build healthy relationships, and make thoughtful decisions. It is built around five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
For children growing up in residential care – often without a consistent adult and with a history of instability – these are not “soft skills.”
They are the foundation for forming relationships, coping with life’s challenges, and integrating safely into community life.
SEL is the language naturally spoken in any supportive home. Children in residential care arrive with an inherent gap in this area. We embed SEL across all our educational content, using clear, accessible language grounded in everyday reality – giving children tools for daily life and giving staff the confidence to use them.
International research (OECD 2023, RAND 2024) shows that SEL improves academic outcomes, reduces behavioral challenges, and strengthens emotional resilience. The same research highlights the importance of SEL not only for students, but also for nurturing and sustaining educational teams.
This is exactly what we bring into residential care—on the ground, every day.

Partners and Supporters - Investing in Social-Emotional Education Shapes a Different Future

Every contribution to staff training, SEL content, or digital development enables us to reach more children - and strengthen the systems around them.

Support the Education Program

Activity Map: What are we doing?

The Education Program operates on several levels simultaneously, throughout the year, and brings content and tools to the field that create real change.

Accessibility Toolbar