Orphaned child and child eligible for a special benefit (abandoned child)
An Israeli residentA person whose life is centered in Israel. Criteria for determining this include: Israel is your permanent place of residence, where your family resides, where your children go to school, your primary place of work, or where you are studying. who left his or her parents home before turning 18 because they were not able to raise him or her due to death, hospitalization, imprisonment, arrest or various functioning difficulties - may be entitled to an income support benefit for an orphaned child or a special benefit (abandoned child).
- An orphaned child is a child whose parents both died or one of them, and the surviving parent is not able to fulfill his obligations as a parent on a regular basis. Please note that a child who lost one parent and receives a survivors' pension may also be entitled to an income supplement benefit when the surviving parent is not capable of functionning as a parent and the child doesn't live whit that living parent.
- A child eligible for a special benefit (abandoned child) is a child who has at least one parent who is an Israeli resident and both parents abandoned him or her, or one parent abandoned him or her and the other one either disappeared or is unable to fulfill his or her obligations as a parent on a regular basis.
Who is eligible for the benefit?
Is eligible for the benefit the child who left his or her parents home since they were not capable of raising him or her.
- A child living in a boarding school - may be entitled to a benefit only for periods where he or she is staying outside of the boarding school, in other words during holidays of 15 days and above (summer break, Tishrei holidays, Passover and similar holidays in the Christian or Muslim communities).
- A child living with a close relative - may be entitled to a benefit until those close relatives are officially approved as a foster family.
Who is ineligible for the benefit?
- A child living in a foster family.
- An adopted child living with his or her adoptive parents.
- And IDF soldier (may be granted the status of lone soldier. For more information, please contact the lone soldiers call center, dialing 1111, extension 2, operating 24 hours a day).
Until what age may one receive a benefit?
The benefit is paid to children until age 18, but a child who has been abandoned or became orphan before turning 18 will also be entitled to the benefit after turning 18 in the following cases:
- He or she completed his high school education or studies in a pre-military school - until age 20.
He or she spent a year of volunteering for the community on behalf of an authorized organization - until age 21.
He or she is serving in national service or learning in a technological or academic Atuda institution - until age 24.
For those who don't meet above criteria - their eligibility will be examined according to the regular conditions of entitlement to income support.
Benefit rate as of Jan 01, 2023
For one child - NIS 2,294 (as of Jan 01, 2024).
For two children - NIS 3,361 (as of Jan 01, 2024).
For each additional child, a benefit of NIS 981 (as of Jan 01, 2024).
How to submit a claim for the benefit?
To receive the benefit, one must file a claim and send it your local branch of the National Insurance, together with required documents, by one of the following ways:
Please note that income support benefit is paid from the month of claim submission only. Thus, to avoid delaying the date of benefit eligibility, it is advised to submit a claim even without supporting documents, and provide these documents later on.
Who submits the claim and to whom is it paid?
The claim may be submitted by the family who takes care of the child, the child's guardian, a social worker or the child himself or herself, as detailed below.
Please note that a social worker who submits a claim on behalf of the child shall attach to the claim a social report detailing the family circumstances and the status of his or her connection with the parents.
Child living in a boarding school who left for holidays (above 15 days)
- The claim will be submitted by the social worker of the boarding school, a family social worker or the family hosting the child during the holidays. The social worker shall attach to the claim a form of declaration of departure for holidays as well as a social report.
- Please note that a child who leaves the boarding school before six months elapsed since the end of the previous entitlement will not need to submit a claim again, however, the child must submit a claim for renewal of income support eligibility.
- The benefit will be paid to the family hosting the child.
Child staying with family in the community and awaiting foster arrangement
- The claim will be submitted by a social worker or the family taking care of the child.
The social worker shall also attach the decision of board of preparation, treatment and assessment or the scheduled date on which that board will deliberate, if not held yet.
The family taking care of the child needs to sign a form of consent and commitment to receive the benefit, and attach this form to the claim. In this form, the family commits to return the money of the benefit in the case they were approved foster benefit for those months of entitlement. - The claim will be paid to the guardian or to the person designated by the National Insurance as recipient of the benefit (generally the family taking care of the child).
- The period of entitlement is up to six months or until approval of foster benefit - whichever comes earlier.
Child staying in temporary arrangement - community shelter
- The claim will be submitted by the social worker handling such cases.
- The benefit will be paid to the guardian or to the person designated by the National Insurance as recipient of the benefit (generally the family taking care of the child). The family taking care of the child needs to sign a form of consent and commitment to receive the benefit, and attach this form to the claim. In this form, the family commits to return the money of the benefit in the case they were approved foster benefit for those months of entitlement.
- The period of entitlement is up to six months or until approval of foster benefit - whichever comes earlier.
Young adult above 18 years old who left his or her parents home before turning 18
- The claim will be submitted by the young adult or by the handling social worker.
- If the young adult is currently staying within the framework of the national service, a pre-military school, a year of service or an Atuda institution prior to military service, the social worker of that framework can also submit a claim. In this case, one must also attach to the claim a social report and the documents certifying the period of national service and the level of the allowance from the national service institution, the period of studies in the pre-military school, the dates of the year of service or the postponement of service in IDF and the studies at the Amuta.
- The benefit is paid directly to the young adult.
Are they any other rights with the National Insurance?
It is important to meet a representative of the Income Support Department at a branch of the National Insurance in order to check what additional rights are due to the child. These may include survivors' pension, livelihood benefit, bar/bat mitzvah grant, death grant, domestic violence benefit, dependents benefit, study grant and savings for each child.