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• The lack of early education services for the children of asylum-seekers is a significant problem worldwide. • The study focused on community daycares in Israel, known as the 'Babysitters'. • It examined an intercultural early education consultation program for undocumented caregivers working in Babysitters. • The program was designed to enhance caregivers' knowledge, sense of belonging and caring skills. • Alliances between counselors and caregivers were important and enhanced caregivers' sense of meaning and belonging. The lack of early childhood education services for the children of asylum-seekers is a significant problem in many countries. The urgent need for childcare and the lack of national solutions often lead to temporary and unregulated childcare services. This paper examines the case of community daycares, known as the 'Babysitters,' for undocumented children of African asylum-seeking families in Israel. These centers are generally staffed by undocumented community members. The study examined the C-SMART program, an intercultural consultation program provided by counselors to enhance community caregivers' developmental knowledge and caring skills for infants and young children. The qualitative study, guided by a grounded theory methodology, examined the caregivers' experiences and perceptions of learning within the C-SMART program. Fifteen undocumented African migrant and asylum-seeking caregivers shared their experiences in semi-structured interviews. Caregivers indicated that the consultation process included cultural tensions alongside moments of connection when shared cultural meanings were created. When the counselors demonstrated a humble, curious, and enabling attitude, the caregivers had significant learning moments and felt a sense of meaning and belonging that enhanced their caring skills. These results have substantial implications for the development of intercultural services for the caregivers of children from refugee or asylum-seeking families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child Development Accounts (CDAs) are savings or investment accounts typically opened at birth or during a child's early years with the aim of promoting savings and asset accumulation for child development purposes, such as post-secondary education or homeownership. Beginning in January of 2017, the Israeli government established a universal CDA program called the Saving for Every Child Program (SECP). Under the program, every Israeli child gets a personal investment fund into which the government makes monthly contributions, and parents can further opt to make additional monthly deposits and change the default deposit location for these funds (a savings account versus an investment fund). Using population-level administrative data, this paper examines SECP enrollment and participation patterns for the first six months following the program's inception. We observe generally high rates of program participation among SECP-eligible households. However, we also find that more affluent, better educated, more employed, and ethnic majority households tend to engage with the program at higher rates and in ways that will likely yield higher economic returns in the future. These results indicate that while the SECP, as currently designed, may increase the overall financial security of Israelis, it may also contribute to growing economic inequality. • Initial household enrollment and participation in the universal Israeli CDA program was high. • Ethnicity, parental education, and employment were largest predictors of program engagement. • Israel's program has the potential to promote long-term asset development in Israeli households. • However, more vulnerable families often engage with the program in less welfare-enhancing ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses to what extent experiencing violence in the Palestinian Arab family in Israel is a predictor for elements of aggressive behavior, and to what extent is it influenced by skills of self-control, social support, religiosity and well-being as mediators of aggressive behavior. One hundred and sixty Arab adolescents (42.3% male and 57.7% female) Grades 9–12 were sampled in a convenient sampling (none random sampling method) from Palestinian Arab family in Israel. Significant positive correlation was found between experiencing violence in the family and aggression (r = 0.30, p < 0.01), with significant negative correlation between self-control skills and aggression (r = −0.626, p < 0.01), religiosity and aggression(r = −0.647, p < 0.01), social support and aggression (r = −0.59, p < 0.01), and no significant correlation between well-being and aggression (r = −0.12, p > 0.05). Social support, self-control and religiosity each alone, fully mediated the relationship between violence in the family and aggression. These findings constitute a theoretical contribution to knowledge gained with respect to aggression among adolescents and students. In addition, the findings could make a practical contribution through development of training programs on the use of mediating skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Care leavers' social support networks have often been theorized as having a salient role in explaining youths' functional outcomes and the way these relate to their adverse pasts. The goals of the present study are to examine the association between childhood adversity and adult functioning among youth aging out-of-care, and to explore how attributes of their social support networks mediate this association. The sample consisted of 345 Israeli care leavers (ages 18 to 25), formerly placed in residential or foster care. Standardized self-report questionnaires were administered to assess various attributes of youths' support networks (e.g., network size or adequacy) vis-à-vis three types of social support (emotional, practical, information and guidance), indices of childhood adversity, and markers of adult functioning (adjustment to post-school settings, economic well-being, and housing difficulties). Structural equation modeling indicated that a significant portion of youths' functioning outcomes was attributable to childhood adversity. This relationship was fully or partially mediated by social support, across the various types of support and outcomes examined. Network size and network adequacy were the most prominent predictors of functioning; the latter more consistently so. Whereas emotional, practical, and information and guidance supports all significantly contributed to greater adjustment to post-school settings and economic well-being, only practical support was related to fewer housing difficulties. The differential effects of the attributes and functions of care leavers' support networks on functioning outcomes are discussed in reference to social network literature. The paper also presents recommendations for practice and policy with a focus on social network intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper qualitatively explores how foster parents from a religious minority group – more specifically foster parents from the Jewish ultra-orthodox sector in Israel experience the act of fostering through secular welfare services. Central themes that the women raised include religious spiritual beliefs as enhancing positive meaning of the act of foster care: Ambivalence of other women in the community because of fostering through external state services: The husband and religious leader as a central support due to the spiritual meanings of foster care. The central themes in terms of the secular services were their role as a protective financial base for creating a clear contract concerning the foster care as compared to informal fostering within the community and a culturally sanctioned exposure to psychological concepts and secular childcare practices. Lack of understanding of the secular welfare services of the importance of each group within their community was also stated as a challenge. Overall, the findings reveal the complex ways that these ultra-religious women from a very closed community negotiate and integrate resources from within their community and from the secular foster services outside of their community. Implications for creating culturally adapted secular foster services for Ultra-orthodox Jewish women are discussed, as are the methodological implications of exploring phenomenological experience of minority groups of foster care services as a base for culturally sensitive understanding, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ECEC policy research can benefit from the historical institutionalism theory, which explores the role of institutions over time. • The bureaucratic politics highlights the role of government officials in policy making. • In the case of Israel, the historical institutionalism analysis explains the ECEC governance deficit characterized by (a) low quality, (b) weak regulation, and (c) services that are mainly directed at working mothers while excluding other populations. • Early patterns from the pre-state era formed the current structure of governance. • The paper offers a theoretical contribution to understanding change in a historical perspective by proposing the concept of erosion , in which standards, norms, and policy expectations gradually wear away. Israel is characterized by weak governability and low-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC; birth to three years) services. This policy is characterized by four dimensional deficits: deficit in provision of services, deficit in legislation, deficit in quality, and deficit in funding. This paper probes the sources of the regulatory deficit and low public investment in ECEC services in Israel. I use historical institutionalism analysis along with bureaucratic politics theory to explore Israel's weak regulatory governance from the 1920 s to the 1980 s. The bureaucratic politics approach furnishes a good view of the role of bureaucrats and the bureaucratic power struggle in policy formation. The analysis indicates three tensions that have shaped ECEC policy: (1) support for working mothers versus disadvantaged children and families; (2) accessibility of services versus quality of services; and (3) form of provision (i.e., ECEC as a private service versus ECEC as a public service). Historical analysis shows that the ambiguity and duality that characterize ECEC policy regarding these issues has led to indecisive and inconsistent policies, weak regulatory governance, and poor public services. The conflict among ministerial offices has also contributed to the gradual change in policy. The study underscores the contribution of historical analysis to understanding policy trends and for designing future reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In Israel, the ‘Civic-National Volunteer Service for Youth At-risk’ was developed to help support their transition to adulthood, while making a contribution to society. The present paper examines life satisfaction and perceptions of the future among youth at-risk completing their volunteer service. Further, the paper explores how socio-demographic background, personal strengths (sense of mastery and self-esteem), and their experiences during service predict these outcomes. The participants were selected from a convenience sample, which included most of the participants in a cohort of national service for a project designed specifically for youth at-risk in a nonprofit organization that operates national service projects. The sample included 161 at-risk youth (93.2% females) who responded to structured questionnaires. Stepwise hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine predictor of each of the dependent variables. The findings revealed that experiences during volunteer service contributed significantly to prediction of their life satisfaction. Positive perceptions of the future, on the other hand, were predicted mainly by their personal assets of having a high school matriculation diploma and high self-esteem. In the discussion section, the paper addresses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, with a strong emphasis on expanding this important support for normative transition to adulthood of at-risk youth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper deals with the contact and relationship youth have with staff while in care and after emancipation and examines the young adults' needs in contacting staff after leaving care. The study was conducted through 60 interviews with young adults ages 21–26 who emancipated from residential settings in Israel. Results showed that most youth report having had a meaningful staff member in care and that 62% were in contact with staff after their transition to independent living for both emotional and practical needs that could not always be answered by staff. One of the study's conclusions is that despite their departure staff's relationship with these young adults continues informally years after. However, without formal recognition of the place staff have in the lives of aged-out youth, no resources are invested in training them to properly meet the young adults' needs. The discussion highlights the need for an integrative approach that sees residential settings and staff as a meaningful part in the continuity from care to independent living by supporting aged-out youth's gradual transition to adult life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to present care leavers' challenges in the transition to independent living in Israel. Studies that examined the status of care leavers in the years after the transition to independent living have enhanced the understanding of these young people's vulnerability. However, few studies have examined the care leavers' transition experience shortly after leaving residential care from their own point of view. About one year after leaving residential placements, 236 leavers answered quantitative and qualitative questioners regarding their positive and negative experiences in the transition from residential living and the extent of support they received during that period. The study findings show that for most of the young people the transition to independent living was not only difficult but also included positive experiences. Even though most of the young people indicated the presence of a source of support during that period, one third of the young adults had no support at all or only some of the time. One of the study's conclusions is that care leavers cope simultaneously both with their separation from their old setting and with the new setting to which they have to adjust. At the same time some of them are dealing with additional difficulties, including economic shortage, unstable relationships with their parents and social isolation. The discussion raises the need for pre-evaluation and planning to accommodate the needs that arise from the transition, with differential treatment of the more vulnerable subgroups of young adults, in order to develop solutions to mitigate the transition for the young adults and help them adjust gradually to independent living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As research has shown, safety is also a subjective phenomenon. Contemporary scholarship has also underscored the importance of subjective well-being among children as a vital component of overall well-being. Our paper explores the potential relationship between reported levels of safety in different settings and the subjective well-being of children. We conducted our study on 2238 children ages 10 and 12 with varying sociodemographic characteristics. Our findings support our hypothesis that safety in different settings is positively inter-correlated and that safety perceptions are positively correlated with subjective well-being. Furthermore, the correlations exist among different sociodemographic groups and in different settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Experience of certain material deprivation pattern varies significantly across the world. • Children from Europe have almost no likelihood of belonging to the Extreme Deprivation class. • Children living in MENA are more likely to experience housing and mobile deprivation. • Children living in Africa are more likely to experience lack of access to digital resources in addition to deficit of basic necessities. • Children living in Eastern Europe are more likely to experience transportation deprivation. Current research suggests that poverty affects children at different rates across the world (OECD, 2018; Unicef Innocenti Research Center, 2007). Additionally, poverty affects children differently – from deprivation of basic needs (ex. lack of food, clothing) to lack of access to digital technology. Previous studies of child poverty and its impact on children have predominantly approached this topic using income-based measures of poverty. This paper employs a material deprivation approach to study child poverty in different cultural contexts. Therefore, this study answers the following questions: Does child material deprivation have different patterns across world regions? If so, what characteristics do these patterns of material deprivation have? Are these patterns of material deprivation more likely to affect certain world regions? This paper utilizes data from the International Survey of Child Well-Being. The data includes children at the age of 12 from Norway, Germany, England, Spain, Malta, Estonia, Romania, Algeria, Israel, Turkey, Ethiopia, and South Africa. The analyses were based on the items available in the Child Material Resource Index. Latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression were utilized to explore patterns of material deprivation. Findings suggest five patterns of child material deprivation, ranging from extreme to no deprivation. The distribution of these patterns varies significantly across world regions. This study suggests that the distribution of resources to eliminate poverty should be based not only on income-based indicators but should also include an assessment based on perceived deprivation scales, especially in international contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Most Israeli children who spend their youth away from their birth parents live in youth villages. The majority of these children come from either the geographical or social periphery of Israel. Since the 1990s the youth villages have specialized in absorbing immigrants mainly from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and Ethiopia. The paper reports on a survey conducted among the professional staff in the youth villages. This study explores their perceptions of the readiness for independent living of adolescents on the verge of leaving youth villages and examines how readiness is associated with individual and familial characteristics. A structured questionnaire was mailed to youth villages asking professionals to anonymously complete the survey. The total sample include reports on 1256 adolescents who spent in the current setting on average 3.3 (SD=1.8) years. For many of them this was the first out-of-home placement. Generally, workers have a favorable assessment of the youths'' readiness for independent living. Still, they report that many of the youths do not have any of the necessary skills for independent living. Additionally, there are sub-groups that are more disadvantaged and at greater risk because they lack skills for a successful transition from care. The findings indicate that youth of Ethiopian origin are more disadvantaged with regard to skills related to school, the job market, finances, interpersonal relationships and normative behaviors, whereas youths from FSU present fewer skills pertaining to military service. The findings emphasize the important role Israeli youth villages have in supporting underprivileged adolescents in acquiring basic skills for adult life and suggest guidelines as to which sub-groups and in which area programs should be developed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents the findings of a study comparing the well being and self-esteem of young adolescents (age 12–14) who were placed together with their siblings in residential facilities (intact care) in Israel and of youngsters who were placed without their siblings (separate care). The study examines the contribution of sibling relations, frequency of the meetings between the siblings, parental favoritism, age rank, time in care, self-esteem and perception of parents'' economic status to the well being of the youngsters in the two groups. The findings show that the youngsters in intact care (N=91) reported greater well being than those in separate care (N=103), but have no other significant differences. Greater self-esteem and sibling closeness improved the well being of both groups of youngsters, but the other predictor variables functioned differently in the two groups. Greater frequency of meetings improved the well being only of the youngsters in intact care, while the other variables examined improved the well being only of those in separate care. Moreover, the examined variables accounted for a greater proportion of the variance in the youngsters'' well being when the sibling was absent than when he or she was present. Practical implications are suggested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper provides an existential analysis of male batterers'' perceptions of the interventions they received. The data was collected from qualitative interviews with batterers in a series of studies, in a variety of settings in Israel. These include probation departments, community-based domestic violence units, a residential hostel for court-mandated batterers and a therapeutic community for batterers in the prison system. The analysis focused on the batterers'' understanding of the intervention experienced, as reflecting their existential struggle around meaning and being in the world. The intervention forced batterers to examine their relationship towards self, others and their values, in a world that is perceived as hostile and lacking in significant meaning. It therefore focused on attempts to regain a sense of meaning and coherence. Batterers perceived their spouses as dangerous; as powerful agents that threaten their meaning system. In light of this, therapy is focused on the struggle between relinquishing or regaining control over meaning of self in the world. This process is associated with rediscovery of shame, loss and fear and thus involves much anxiety. The complexities and paradoxes emerging from the men''s narratives of therapy are analyzed and discussed. Some principles of existential therapy with batterers are suggested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes and illustrates a group intervention that prepared adolescents from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) for immigration to Israel. The intervention was implemented for students setting out to Israel for a special educational program and was carried out in summer camps held for these students in the FSU. The intervention was structured according to the principles of primary prevention in the sphere of mental health. Its contents were based on the conceptualization of migration as a separation–individuation process. The techniques were attuned to previous cultural experiences and future needs of the participants. A scheme for the intervention was formulated in advance, however, the facilitators were free to implement their ideas as well. Vignettes that demonstrate the different variations of the model are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Physical victimization was higher among boys compared with girls. • Physical victimization was higher among fifth graders compared with eight graders. • Controlling for socioeconomic status, minority students had higher victimization. • The grade-level gap was more pronounced among minority students. • The gender gap across grade levels was more pronounced among minority students. Prior research on students' school victimization has mainly centered on the effect of students' personal characteristics, namely gender and grade level. Although students' personal traits cut across all cultures, a question too often overlooked is whether victimization patterns remain similar for different cultures and ethnicities. Further, gender and grade-level patterns may change across different ethnic and cultural contexts. This study employed analysis of variance to explore physical victimization patterns in schools by students' gender, grade level (fifth or eighth grade), and ethnocultural affiliation (Arab or Jewish) using a nationally representative sample of students in Israel (N = 75,060). Because school violence may increase in the context of poverty, the study controlled for school and student socioeconomic background. The unique structure of schools organized around language and culture in Israel allowed for identification of systematic dissimilarities and commonalities among distinct ethnocultural groups of students. Greater victimization emerged among male, lower-grade, and minority-status students. The findings further indicate that ethnicity and culture not only influenced the level of students' physical victimization, but also significantly changed the effect of gender and grade level across ethnocultural groups. Interaction effects showed a greater gender gap at eighth grade, compared with fifth grade, and a greater grade-level gap among minority students, compared with majority students. The increased gender gap across grade levels was more pronounced among minority students compared with majority students. This paper discusses the complex influence of culture and ethnicity on students' victimization, considering socioeconomic status, distribution of authority, age hierarchy, and gender roles across cultural contexts. Directions for future research that will allow for greater cross-cultural understanding and implications for more effective and context-specific schools practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous models for policy analysis focus on understanding an existing or proposed policy. However, reviews of comprehensive welfare policies from a socio-political and historical developmental perspectives are rare. Further, most policy analysis studies are narrowly focused. Reading through many policy analysis approaches, we elicited five analytic themes that appeared in most and that are longitudinally socio-political-historical in nature: (1) the socialist/collectivist – capitalist/individualistic continuum, (2) transition from denial of child abuse and neglect to recognition, (3) the professionalization of care, (4) transition from out-of-home placement to community solutions, and (5) transition from first punishing, then protecting and providing rights. In this paper, we first present these five analytic themes with special reference to child welfare policies. Then, as a case study, we apply these themes to understand the evolution of child welfare policies in Israel. We refer to the wider gamut of social welfare that usually includes only child protective services while we also include child education, civil rights, child allowances, and social development policies. When the policies are children- and youth-related, some of the general policy trends take a softer, less-punitive, and expanding stances as compared to the welfare of adults. We conclude with suggestions regarding ways to analyze the evolution of other policies in other societal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]