Children with disabilities suffer from abuse four times more than other children, but the services available to them are extremely limited as compared with those available to the general population of children.

A committee of ten senior government professionals established in 2014, emphasized the need to collect relevant data as a basis for developing new programs focused on children with disabilities who are victims of abuse.

In 2015, an Inter-Agency task force was convened, comprised of 10 senior professionals from the Ministries of Health, Education, Social Affairs and Social Services, and a Haruv Institute representative. The task force defined what data should be collected, and identified the need to change some of the current methods for documentation and follow-up.

In 2016, JDC-Ashalim will be providing a grant to review and collect existing data from Israeli government ministries. These data will provide an overall picture of the scope of the phenomenon of neglect and abuse; identify unmet needs on the one hand and duplication of services and data on the other; and identify population groups which  seem to be missing from the data, and whose needs are probably not being addressed.

The survey will include a short overview of the means for data collection used internationally and will collect the data existing in government ministries. Analysis of the data will :

1. Provide a picture (even if not exact) of the scope of child maltreatment
2. Identify duplication of data and of services
3. Identify population groups that are missing from the data, and are unlikely to be receiving services
4. Identify appropriate opportunities for collaboration among the ministries
5. Identify areas in which data is lacking and population’s needs are not met
6. Recommend data collection methods for the future

In 2016 a tender will be publicized for a researcher to collect these data on a full-time basis, and the study will be on its way.