The Pa’ot (Infant) Center was established in 1993 order to serve parents and infants in Tirat Carmel, many of which are new immigrants and are struggling with the difficulties of absorption in Israel. The Center aims to build the parents’ capacity to help their children and become active in their early education

Aims
• To train parents and bestow upon them the necessary knowledge to strengthen their role as their children’s educators.
• To focus on preventing developmental-based problems and to identify and treat those problems as early as possible.
• To change the habits of parents and increase their participation in educational programs, accompanying their children to the library and other various activities.
• To strengthen the professional ties between all the community workers who are engaged in the field of early childhood education in the area.
• To supply training services and operate programs in the field of early childhood education in the region.
The Pa’ot Center includes 3 departments: Enrichment, Activities & Therapies

Enrichment
• Individual training programs in the homes: individual developmental training for parents and children, including programs for babies, and parental programs - a training program for parents of children aged 1-2.
• Training programs in groups for parents and children: - “Good beginning:” A program for babies, directed towards groups of parents of children aged 2-3. Currently there are 3 groups and 1 for new immigrants.

Also offered are special courses for children aged 3-5 (2 groups).

Activities:
• Fun-games and a lending library: Parents arrive independently for fun and games where they can borrow books and receive guidance on different matters.

• Infant nursery school (Kat Gan): A kindergarten for children aged 2-3, who do not attend any other educational framework. The kindergarten operates two groups, for 15 children each, who attend the kindergarten three times a week each.

• Day Care Center: This is a high standard frame, which receives guidance from Haifa University. It includes 50 children aged 1-3 who are divided in 3 classes. Each group has 3-4 adults who nurse them all around the day.

Programs in the day care centers: There are three day-care centers in Tirat Carmel: “Emuna”, “Na’amat” and “Matnas”. In the framework of these centers, the following programs are operated by the “Pa’ot” Center team:
• Thinking skill program: under the auspices of the Division of Pre-School Education in the Ministry of Education. The program aims at instilling cognitive concepts in children in small groups.
• Operating groups of children in movement and music.
• Training nursery school teachers.

Therapies:
• Occupational Therapy
• Physical Therapy
• Speech Therapy
All therapies include locating and treating the developmental problems of children who need help. They are conducted in the kindergartens, the Pa'ot Center, or in the homes, either in groups or privately on a one on one basis.