After Omer was born, his parents abandoned him and each other. Omer, who is 14, has lived with his maternal grandparents all his life, but his parents remain a major force of pain. Omer’s mother continually pressures him to visit his father, but each visit ends in disaster.
Omer comes back broken, and it can take weeks to help him pick up the pieces.”
Says social worker Hadas Knopf.
Although it has taken some time, Omer confided in Hadas of his father’s heavy drinking, cursing, and constant ridicule. Although he never wants to see him again, the child remains in contact with his dad only to appease his mother, whose contact with Omer is fragile at best.
Working with his teachers and rabbis, Hadas has begun intensive sessions aimed to empower Omer to stand up to his father. Slowly but surely, Omer is beginning to push the pain away, and to concentrate on the good things in life. The goal is for him to say no to his mother when she forces him to visit his father, and ultimately, to stand up to his father as well.
“Omer’s objective is to be involved in the here and now,” says Hadas. “We are here to help him lift his head and his thoughts from the tortuous places he’s been.”
