Raphael Ahren - Haaretz English - March 27, 2009

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Lynn Schusterman's latest philanthropy project is rooted in an experience she had as a newlywed. "I first got involved in the whole issue of child abuse when I was 23 years old, when I volunteered with the National Council of Jewish Women in Tulsa," Schusterman told Anglo File in Jerusalem this week. "I worked in a police shelter, where children had to be taken out of their homes immediately because they were really badly abused. Bodies were covered with cigarette burns, arms were broken. I vowed then that when we were financially able do something, I'd get involved in [treating] child abuse." Almost fifty years and many millions of dollars later, Schusterman - an illustrious philanthropist - is still committed to supporting abuse victims, although she told Anglo File that personally she is more involved with college-age Diaspora Jews because that doesn't require her to be a social worker or a pediatrician. 

 

On Tuesday, she opened the new shelter for abused Israeli children at Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv, which is modeled after "one-stop shopping" child abuse networks in the U.S., as the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Schusterman calls it. Usually, molested children have to tell their story over and over - first to the police, then to a host of municipal workers, psychologists and social workers - which doctors found to exacerbate their trauma. In the new "Beit Lynn," however, the child finds all these agencies under one roof. 

 

 

The next day, Schusterman - who recently celebrated her 70th birthday - attended a ceremony during which the health ministry's director-general certified 18 doctors to be able to testify in court, treat children and teach other pediatricians how to recognize and treat child abuse, "and hopefully start educating teachers about recognizing signs of child abuse," she said. The doctors will work at the Haruv Institute in Jerusalem, which the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation established in 2007. 

 

Schusterman, whose late husband Charles made a fortune in the oil and gas business, and ranks 601 on Forbes' 2009 list of the world's billionaires, says she lost more money during the current economic crisis than she thought she previously had, but she does not intend to stop - or even curtail - giving money to worthy causes. "While other foundations need to scale back, I've made an active decision that to the best of my ability, at least for the next three years, I am going to scale back certain living conditions but continue to give at the same level that I've been giving." 

 

Though her aim is to teach the next generation that "being Jewish is cool" through programs such as Birthright and Hillel, she reaffirmed her commitment to financially support her other projects and even expand them. "Luckily," she said, "I wasn't affected by the Madoff scandal. I jokingly say that I wasn't important enough for him. I don't have a house in Palm Beach - my second home is Jerusalem."

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Israel's first all-encompassing center for child and teen victims of sexual and physical abuse will open Tuesday as a separate department at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. 

 

Based on the successful US model, where currently 600 such centers are in operation, Beit Lynn will provide abuse victims between the ages of three and 18 with a wide range of services and therapy, including social welfare and legal services.

 

Its creation is based on a law passed last year, which calls for six more such centers to be set up.

 

"This is the first center of its kind to be established in Israel, and bringing together medical staff with other responders will provide the capacity to give treatment quickly and effectively in the most traumatic of cases," said Prof. Ze'ev Rotstein, Sheba Medical Center's director-general.

 

Funded by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, together with the Ministry of Welfare and Social Services, Sheba Medical Center, NGO Ashalim, the Israel Police Force and contributions from the ministries of health, justice and education, the new center aims to streamline the initial process rape victims must undergo, whether their attacker is a family member or a stranger.

 

In the past, victims were forced to visit each office independently, usually being carted around by their parents from the hospital to the police station and on to social workers and lawyers.

 

The new center will bring all these elements together under one roof, with all first responders sharing information and easing the trauma for the victim.

 

A pilot center run along similar lines has been operating in Jerusalem for the past several years and was also established by the Schusterman Foundation. It is not based in a hospital, however.

 

According to the latest information from the Ministry of Welfare and Social Services, there are some 40,000 cases of child abuse reported each year, with child welfare officers following up on roughly one-fourth of those reports.

 

Last year, child welfare officers investigated 8,716 cases of child abuse, a rise of 12 percent over the previous year.

 

"This is a very welcomed and essential initiative," Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog said in a statement. "It will provide Israel with a breakthrough in the treatment of children and youth who have been abused physically, sexually or emotionally."

 

"The new center will allow thousands of children who have gone through a terrible trauma to receive the necessary treatment in an appropriate and holistic manner, all under one roof," he added.

 

Beit Lynn is expected to treat more than 700 children and teens a year from the area surrounding the hospital.

 

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