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The names of the children in these stories have been changed.
Merav, five years old, arrived at the home deeply disturbed and severely depressed after a terrible experience with her mentally ill mother. Initially, she would only communicate by emitting animal-like barks and wails. After three months at the home, Merav began to show some improvement. She was eventually placed with a foster family near her biological siblings and her mother, who was in a halfway house after spending time at a mental hospital. This arrangement was a great success.
Chaim, almost six, had an unfortunate past and was prone to outbursts of uncontrollable, wild conduct. No child education framework was willing to put up with him and he was slated for placement in a special institution; he was to stay at the home in the meantime. Our director, with her professional knowledge and love for children, was convinced that the boy had potential. At her insistence, the boy was allowed to stay in the home while a suitable foster family could be found; previous attempts to place him had failed repeatedly.
Finally, a couple who already had some children came forward. The woman, cautioned about the difficulties she would face, assured us that she could cope with them. She arrived at the home, and when she saw Chaim at the end of a long corridor, she spread her arms to him. He ran to her for a long, close hug. She took him into her home the same day, and Chaim became a good student in a regular school.
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