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David was four years old when he came to the Shabtai Levi Home, an emaciated, sad little boy. His single mother had neither fed nor clothed him, and he spent his days wandering unattended in the streets or sitting on the window sill of his fourth story apartment.
From the day of his arrival, David discussed with his friends ways of putting an end to his life. During psychotherapy sessions, he spoke of fears and nightmares, and errupted in uncontrollable outbursts of anger. He could only be soothed when the psychotherapist hugged him warmly until he calmed down and the danger of self-inflicted harm passed. He was angry at the whole world--his disruptive behavior in kindergarten made the constant presence of a caregiver from the home necessary.
His mother led him to believe that when he reached school age and was able to care for himself, she would be prepared to take him back. Believing this, he ingested enormous amounts of food, in hopes of speeding up his growth. On one of her rare visits, his mother complained to the kindergarten teacher about David's problematic behavior and expressed her disappointment that he had not been "fixed." She said she was planning to leave for Nepal to marry; she suggested the teacher bring up David in the event that she did not return to Israel. Hearing this, David reacted immediately, with prolonged severity.
In spite of his serious condition, the therapeutic staff was confident that David could eventually be successfully adopted and fit into the right family. After a two-and-a-half year struggle, the court declared David eligible for adoption. At six-and-a-half years old, he was confronted with his adoptive family for the first time. David met them with anger and aggression, saying his mother had told him to kill them. After a number of meetings, with the support and mediation of the staff, he asked to move to their home. A year later, David expressed a wish to visit the Shabtai Levi Home. The family reported that, by now, he had fully integrated with them; he was happy and had grown by two heads since he left.
Today David has many friends, excels at karate, and effortlessly surfs the net.
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