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Mapping MENA 1

https://openalex.org/W2097764353

Developing Anti-Oppressive Services for the Poor: A Theoretical and Organisational Rationale

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Journal Article Developing Anti-Oppressive Services for the Poor: A Theoretical and Organisational Rationale Get access Roni Strier, Roni Strier Roni Strier, Ph.D., is a Lecturer at the School of Social Work, Haifa University, Israel. Sharon Binyamin, MSW, is a Deputy Director at the Welfare Department, Jerusalem Municipality, Jerusalem, Israel. Correspondence to Roni Strier, Ph.D., School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel. E-mail: rstrier@univ.haifa.ac.il Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sharon Binyamin Sharon Binyamin Roni Strier, Ph.D., is a Lecturer at the School of Social Work, Haifa University, Israel. Sharon Binyamin, MSW, is a Deputy Director at the Welfare Department, Jerusalem Municipality, Jerusalem, Israel. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 40, Issue 6, September 2010, Pages 1908–1926, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcp122 Published: 14 November 2009 Article history Accepted: 01 September 2009 Published: 14 November 2009

https://openalex.org/W2169566693

The Needed and the Needy: The Policy Legacies of Benefits for Disabled War Veterans in Israel

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In contrast to most other welfare states, the development of the Israeli welfare state has occurred in the shadow of an ongoing military conflict. This study examines one of the consequences of this development by focusing on the impact of benefits for disabled war veterans upon the country's social security system. Not only are the benefits for Israeli disabled veterans more generous and expensive than those in other welfare states but they have also had a significant impact upon the nature of other social security programmes. In particular, we identify the differential impact of the policy legacies of this programme on benefits and services for other ‘deserving’ groups in Israeli society and on programmes for those disabled from natural causes.

https://openalex.org/W2043226899

Appearances Can Be Deceptive: Gender in the Israeli Welfare State

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At first glance, social policies intended for women in the Israeli welfare state could be assumed to have played a major role in promoting gender equality. However, a detailed examination of data relating to a variety of aspects of social life indicates that gender inequality is still very much prevalent in Israeli society. In order to understand this gap and its social and ideological roots, the article analyzes the processes through which three key social welfare polices were introduced in Israel, contextualizing their enactment and implementation within the wider social and political context of Israeli society. It highlights the ways in which these social policies reconstruct female exclusion along national, ethnic, and gender lines. This study is set within the context of the theoretical debate regarding the role of the welfare state in the promotion of gender equality. The Israeli case points to the limited ability of the state to become a key source of social change. These limitations originate in structural constructs, ideological conceptions about the roles of men and women, and their relations with the state.

https://openalex.org/W3124342034

Welfare Dominance: An Application to Commodity Taxation

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In this paper, the authors propose a method to identify commodity-tax changes that will be favored by all individuals who can agree on certain weak assumptions with regard to the social-welfare function. The method is based on an extension of the criterion of second-degree stochastic dominance and is illustrated using data from Israel. Copyright 1991 by American Economic Association.

https://openalex.org/W2158419814

Social work in Israel: professional characteristics in an international comparative perspective

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This article employs a comparative framework in the analysis of the professional characteristics of social work in Israel. Using the attributes and the power approaches to professions, Israeli social work is analysed according to eight variables: a protected ‘trademark’, monopoly over social care and delivery of services within state welfare systems, occupational autonomy, length of training and control over training, internal differentiation by levels of expertise and competence, professional organisation, a sanction‐backed code of ethics, and material and symbolic rewards. The analysis reveals that Israeli social work has undergone an extensive professionalisation process and that it has characteristics that are not common in other countries. Initial explanations for this process are offered and discussed.

https://openalex.org/W2005239383

Policy-practice in social work and social work education in Israel

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Policy-practice is a form of social work intervention that is intended to influence social policy. It is linked to an understanding of the role of social workers which places the struggle for social justice at the forefront of social work activity. However, this form of social work intervention has remained on the sidelines of social work practice and education in most welfare states. This paper seeks to understand the role that policy-practice and social policy play, and have played, in social work and social work education in Israel. The findings indicate that, despite a growth in interest in the political role of social workers in Israel during the 1970s, policy-practice has remained a mode of practice adopted by a minority of members of the profession in Israel. An empirical study of the curriculums of the schools of social work in Israel indicates that this is the case for the study program in most of the schools. The reasons for this can be linked primarily to the overwhelming influence of American social work upon the development of the Israeli profession and to the process of liberalization and privatization of the Israeli welfare state in the last two decades.

https://openalex.org/W2093492531

Social welfare policy in Israel: Developments in the 1980s and 1990s

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(2001). Social welfare policy in Israel: Developments in the 1980s and 1990s. Israel Affairs: Vol. 7, Public Policy in Israel, pp. 153-180.

https://openalex.org/W2086572759

Immigration and the Categorical Welfare State in Israel

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Immigration is an issue of growing relevance in welfare states. This article seeks to better understand the link between social welfare and immigration in Israel, a welfare state that has absorbed a greater proportion of immigrants than any other. Employing a conceptual framework that looks at both immigration policy and the structuring of the social welfare system, the article examines the impact of the Israeli system on the welfare of immigrants and members of other groups in society. The unique structuring of the social welfare system in Israel, described as categorical universalism, and its immigration policy are linked to what Sammy Smooha calls an “ethnic democracy.”

https://openalex.org/W2124614362

The 'Why' and the 'How' of Policy Practice: An Eight-Country Comparison

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Journal Article The ‘Why’ and the ‘How’ of Policy Practice: An Eight-Country Comparison Get access John Gal, John Gal Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Idit Weiss-Gal Idit Weiss-Gal * *Correspondence to Professor John Gal, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: john.gal@mail.huji.ac.il Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 45, Issue 4, June 2015, Pages 1083–1101, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bct179 Published: 05 November 2013 Article history Accepted: 01 October 2013 Published: 05 November 2013

https://openalex.org/W2103625095

Who Benefits the Most? The Unequal Allocation of Transfers in the Israeli Welfare State

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Objective . This article critically examines contradictions within the Israeli welfare system, and asks how welfare transfers affect poverty for different social groups. Methods . Using data from Israel’s 1996 Income Survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics, the analysis focuses on households with working‐age heads, and compares poverty rates, before and after transfers among three groups: (1) recent immigrants; (2) Arabs; and (3) ultra‐orthodox Jews ( Haredim ), distinguishing between couple‐ and female‐headed households. Results . The results show that social welfare policy is more effective in aiding recent immigrants, who are entitled to special benefits, than aiding Arabs. The findings also show that transfers have a stronger effect in reducing poverty among female‐headed families than among couple‐headed families, thus reducing the gap between these two types of households. Conclusions . Israeli welfare policy reduces poverty, but this effect differs substantially by social group. While formally Israel is considered a universalistic welfare state, for historical and ideological reasons certain social groups, such as Jewish immigrants, have been favored and granted extra benefits, while others, such as Arabs, were neglected.

https://openalex.org/W2109394753

The Contribution of Individual, Social Support and Institutional Characteristics to Perceived Readiness to Leave Care in Israel: An Ecological Perspective

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Journal Article The Contribution of Individual, Social Support and Institutional Characteristics to Perceived Readiness to Leave Care in Israel: An Ecological Perspective Get access Tamar Dinisman, Tamar Dinisman * Tamar Dinisman is a doctoral candidate at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Anat Zeira is an associate professor at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Her interests include transition to adulthood of care leavers and research use in direct social work practice. *Correspondence to Tamar Dinisman, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel. E-mail: tamar.dinisman@mail.huji.ac.il Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Anat Zeira Anat Zeira Tamar Dinisman is a doctoral candidate at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Anat Zeira is an associate professor at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Her interests include transition to adulthood of care leavers and research use in direct social work practice. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 41, Issue 8, December 2011, Pages 1442–1458, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr034 Published: 01 April 2011 Article history Accepted: 01 March 2011 Published: 01 April 2011

https://openalex.org/W2076121388

Social work education in Israel: Trends and issues

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Social work education in Israel has been strongly influenced by North American models and by an early decision to integrate it into the university system. The result is a constant tension between the objectives of academic excellence and social relevance. The schools of social work have still to find the right balance between the theoretical and practical aspects of social work education, and to cope adequately with the multi-cultural nature of Israeli society. New challenges are posed by rapid developments in legislation, service technology and the economics of the welfare system.

https://openalex.org/W3122305064

The Regulatory Welfare State in Pension Markets: Mitigating High Charges for Low-Income Savers in the United Kingdom and Israel

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Abstract How does the rising ‘regulatory welfare state’ address social policy concerns in pension markets? This study examines this question by comparing the regulatory responses to high charges paid by low-income workers in pension markets in the UK and Israel. In the UK, with the recognition that the market would not cater to low-income workers, the regulatory response was the creation of a publicly operated low-cost pension fund (NEST), a ‘public option’ within the market. This allowed low-income workers access to a low level of charges, previously reserved for high-income and organised workers. In Israel, regulation sought to empower consumers, while providing minimal social protection by capping pension charges at a relatively high level, thereby leaving most of the responsibility for reducing the charges with the individual saver. By comparing these two cases, the article develops an analytical framework for the study of the regulatory welfare state, making two contributions. First, it highlights different types of regulatory citizenship: minimal regulatory social protection as opposed to a more egalitarian approach. Second, it identifies an overlooked regulatory welfare state strategy: creating ‘public option’ arrangements, whereby a state-run (but not funded) service operates within the market.

https://openalex.org/W2129221382

Construction and Validation of the Multidimensional Experience of Grandparenthood Set of Inventories

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Journal Article Construction and Validation of the Multidimensional Experience of Grandparenthood Set of Inventories Get access Liora Findler, Liora Findler Liora Findler, PhD, is senior lecturer and Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari, PhD, ACSW, is professor, The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel; Orit Nuttman-Shwartz, PhD, MSW, is dean, School of Social Work, Sapir College, Israel; Ronit Lazar, PhD, is faculty member, School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel. Address correspondence to Liora Findler, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel;. e-mail: findler@biu.ac.il Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari, Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari Liora Findler, PhD, is senior lecturer and Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari, PhD, ACSW, is professor, The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel; Orit Nuttman-Shwartz, PhD, MSW, is dean, School of Social Work, Sapir College, Israel; Ronit Lazar, PhD, is faculty member, School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel. Address correspondence to Liora Findler, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel;. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Orit Nuttman-Shwartz, Orit Nuttman-Shwartz Liora Findler, PhD, is senior lecturer and Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari, PhD, ACSW, is professor, The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel; Orit Nuttman-Shwartz, PhD, MSW, is dean, School of Social Work, Sapir College, Israel; Ronit Lazar, PhD, is faculty member, School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel. Address correspondence to Liora Findler, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel;. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Ronit Lazar Ronit Lazar Liora Findler, PhD, is senior lecturer and Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari, PhD, ACSW, is professor, The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel; Orit Nuttman-Shwartz, PhD, MSW, is dean, School of Social Work, Sapir College, Israel; Ronit Lazar, PhD, is faculty member, School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel. Address correspondence to Liora Findler, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel;. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Work Research, Volume 37, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 237–253, https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svt025 Published: 18 September 2013 Article history Received: 12 April 2011 Revision received: 15 September 2011 Accepted: 22 December 2011 Published: 18 September 2013

https://openalex.org/W2159234827

Public attitudes towards the welfare state and public policy: the Israeli experience

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This article provides data and insights into Israeli public opinion about the welfare state and social policy. The study included 940 respondents who reported their attitudes towards various issues related to the welfare state. The study was conducted in spring 2008 prior to the current economic crisis. The findings show that, to a large extent, the Israeli public justifies state intervention in the supply of public services, supports public investment in services related to the welfare state, and recognizes the obligation to support those in need. As for various policy areas, the Israeli public regards education as a top priority, believing that investment in public education is likely to lead to achievements in other areas such as security and health. However, when asked about their willingness to pay more taxes for services related to the welfare state, respondents tended to be less enthusiastic. The research points to a significant gap between the social and economic policies in the past decade and the attitudes of large parts of Israeli society towards the welfare state. We provide possible explanations for that gap.

https://openalex.org/W1999601906

Stress, social support and well‐being of Arab mothers of children with intellectual disability who are served by welfare services in northern Israel

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The present study examined the influence of a social support system on the level of stress and the sense of personal well-being of 100 Israeli Arab mothers of young children with special needs.Fifty mothers were served by the welfare services in the Nazareth area while 50 did not get help on a regular basis. A comparison was done between educated, urban mothers, and less-educated, rural mothers.The research results point to a relationship between informal support resources, and the marital and economic stress of the mothers: the higher the amount of the informal support resources, the lower the level of stress that was experienced by the mothers. A relationship between the amount of informal support and level of parental stress was not confirmed. A relationship between the amount of support resources and the personal well-being of the mothers was found: the higher the amount of informal support resources, the higher the sense of well-being of the mothers. A relationship between formal support (the welfare services), and level of stress or personal well-being was not found. Education and place of living were not related to level of stress or personal well-being. Educated mothers from urban areas used the formal support (the welfare services) less than less-educated mothers who lived in rural areas.The findings are interpreted with respect to practice and previous studies.

https://openalex.org/W142126838

Government and the Third Sector: Emerging Relationships in Welfare States

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Preface Editors Contributors 1. Government and the Third Sector in Comparative Perspective: Allies of Adversaries? (Benjemin Gidron, Ralph M. Kramer, Lester M. Salamon) 2. An Elaborate Network: Profiling the Third Sector in Germany (Helmut K. Anheier) 3. A Partnership Between Government and Voluntary Organizations: Changing Relationships in Dutch Society (Herman J. Aquina) 4. The Historical Precedent for Government-Nonprofit Cooperation in Norway(Stein Kuhnle, Per Selle) 5. The Interrelationship Between the Public and Voluntary Sectors in Switzerland: Unmixing the Mixed-Up Economy (Antonin Wagner) 6. The Voluntary Sector's Central Role in Managing Societal Instability in Northern Ireland (Arthur P. Williamson) 7. The Changing Role of the Nonprofit Sector in Britain: Moving Toward the Market (Marilyn Taylor) 8. A Resurgent Third Sector and Its Relationship to Government in Israel (Benjamin Gidron) 9. Voluntary and Public Social Services in Italy (Sergio Pasquinelli) 10. Building Welfare Systems Through Local Associations in France (Viviane Mizrahi-Tchernonog).

https://openalex.org/W2103191076

Life Satisfaction Among Israeli Youth in Residential Treatment Care

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Journal Article Life Satisfaction Among Israeli Youth in Residential Treatment Care Get access Miriam Schiff, Miriam Schiff Correspondence to Miriam Schiff, PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, ‘Research Group: Mental Health and Well-Being in Childhood and Adolescence’, Mt Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel. E-mail: msschiff@mscc.huji.ac.il Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Shiry Nebe, Shiry Nebe Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Rich Gilman Rich Gilman Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 36, Issue 8, December 2006, Pages 1325–1343, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bch274 Published: 15 August 2005 Article history Accepted: 01 February 2005 Published: 15 August 2005

https://openalex.org/W2092671652

The impact of the 2nd intifada on Israeli Arab and Jewish social workers

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This paper presents an analysis of interviews with Israeli social workers conducted as part of a study investigating the impact of the 2nd Intifada on the work, clients, views and feelings of Israeli Arab and Jewish social workers. The data were generated from 58 interviews with social workers who volunteered to do so. Coming from a sociological perspective, the study focused on how a violent political conflict impacts on two groups of social workers who live and work in the same society, but are likely to have different views about it. Their actions, views, well-being, and values were researched in a context likely to test universal social work values. The findings document a high level of tension and anxiety generated for both groups, very negative impact on clients’ life and views, largely negative effect on welfare services, co-existing with continuous professional development. Social workers’ views of their own national group and the other national group within the Intifada context highlight primarily the empathy with one's own group while lacking in empathy towards the other group, coupled with suspicion and some hostility. The struggle to maintain professional values is expressed only by a minority. The discussion and conclusions look at what social work can learn from the findings in understanding such complex contexts and the response to the challenge they pose to social work.

https://openalex.org/W2762927724

Dimensions of life satisfaction: Immigrant and ethnic minorities

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Abstract The article investigates the dimensions of life satisfaction of immigrant and ethnic minorities comparing them with the majority population. It constructs a theoretical framework, taking into account both pecuniary and non‐pecuniary dimensions of welfare. This study is based on the data of the Social Survey, administered by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Immigrants in this study are regarded as a migrant minority and Israeli‐born Arab citizens as an ethnic minority. The results reveal significant life satisfaction gaps between the groups, which can be partially explained by the value of work per se and the value of leisure activities. Applying the Blinder‐Oaxaca decomposition technique, the study revealed that the gap in life satisfaction could be attributed both to the differences in pecuniary and non‐pecuniary resources for each group, and to different returns on resources. Policy targeted on increasing the economic possibilities of minority groups would decrease the life satisfaction gaps.

https://openalex.org/W2074063660

DOES SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION HAVE AN IMPACT ON SOCIAL POLICY PREFERENCES? A THREE-COHORT STUDY

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This article examines the impact of social work education on the social policy preferences of social work students through a panel study of 3 cohorts of students at universities in 2 countries—the United States and Israel. The findings of the study indicate that though the initial policy preferences of the students at the beginning of their studies at the 3 universities differed, by the end of their studies the students' preferences were similar and supportive of the welfare state model.

https://openalex.org/W1996865098

Ethnic Associations and the Welfare State: Services to Immigrants in Five Countries.

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The contributors discuss social, political, and economic consequences of migration in five countries: the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Israel, and Australia.

https://openalex.org/W2732507270

Social Workers and Their Long-Term Clients

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Abstract This qualitative study examined the relations between clients of a welfare department in the south of Israel, who are in deep, long-term economic and social distress and the social workers who serve them, examining each respective group's perceptions of the other. The data was collected from two sources: (1) Interviews conducted with all the families who were defined by the social workers as being “chronic” clients in a small development town in the south of Israel, (2) focus groups with the Social Service Department's staff. The two groups' conceptions regarding the clients' difficulties, the assistance given to them and the relationships between them differ in many respects. Assessment of these differences sheds light on the difficulties encountered by social workers who work with families in long-term distress and possible ways of coping with them.

https://openalex.org/W2558467544

When the Clients Can Choose: Dilemmas of Street-Level Workers in Choice-Based Social Services

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How does the increased use of choice-based management strategies in social services influence the behavior of street-level workers? In this article, we provide an analytical framework for understanding street-level logic in choice-based environments. We then turn to the case of home-nursing care in Israel to examine how choice plays out in street-level workers’ day-to-day practices. By relying on 34 interviews with social workers working in home-care agencies, we illustrate how street-level workers’ jobs have expanded beyond implementing public policy to include the “new job” of recruiting and retaining clients. The article shows how a choice-based environment gives higher priority to clients’ preferences, while at the same time these preferences are subordinated to the economic interest of the providers. It also demonstrates how market pressures may push street-level workers to develop new practices and coping strategies that go beyond, but often also counter to, formal policy.

https://openalex.org/W2051107905

Circles of Exclusion: Obstacles in Access to Health Care Services in Israel

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The Israeli National Health Insurance Act establishes a formal framework that guarantees equal access to health care services. The author analyzes the ways in which the neoliberalization of Israeli society, through partial privatization of the public health care system, and its structure of citizenship interact in excluding significant social groups, such as Israeli Arabs and migrant workers, from equal access to health care.

https://openalex.org/W2054042854

Parental stress, marital satisfaction and responsiveness to children: A comparison between mothers of children with and without inborn impairment

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1University of Haifa, Israel 2Sheba Medical Center, Sheba, Israel Address for correspondence: Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies, Office of the Dean, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]

https://openalex.org/W2121693806

The Geography of Children's Welfare in Israel: The Role of Nationality, Religion, Socio-Economic Factors and Social Worker Availability

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The study examined the relations between various characteristics of Israeli localities and three indicators of children's welfare: rates of reports on child maltreatment to child protection officers (CPO), rates of children registered at the social services, and rates of minor offenders on probation. A set of characteristics of 163 localities—including socio-economic status, religion, nationality, geography, demography and social services availability—was used to explore possible links with these indicators. Using secondary data analysis, the study found rates of child welfare indicators to vary considerably across localities. Multivariate hierarchical regression showed that Arab localities had lower rates of reported cases of child maltreatment and minor offenders on probation than Jewish localities with low concentrations of ultra-Orthodox Jews (i.e. the majority of localities in Israel). Ultra-Orthodox localities had lower rates of reported cases of child maltreatment but had higher rates of children known to social services than localities with lower concentrations of ultra-Orthodox Jews. Rates of children known to social services were lower in poorer localities. The ratio of social workers to residents and CPOs to children were correlated positively with the various child welfare indicators. The Discussion section examines the need for a more equal distribution of economic and social services resources.

https://openalex.org/W1529220813

Work Attitudes of Social Workers Across Three Sectors of Welfare Organizations

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Abstract The main aim of this research was to trace the impact on the social services sector in Israel of the accelerating process of privatization and the massive increase in non-profit organizations by comparing work attitudes of social workers in the three organizational groups that today make up the field of the social services: (1) public, (2) for-profit, and (3) third sector. Traditionally, public organizations primarily covered the existing social services needs of the population, with private organizations gradually developing in parallel. Over the past 20 years a third organizational form has entered the field with the move toward privatizationi.e., the significant shift from public toward private management with public supervisionand the emergence of non-profit organizations, i.e., the third-sector services. Participants were chosen randomly from the list of social workers in Israel. They were asked to report their work and workplace attitudes. ANOVA results showed that type of organization had a strong effect on work and workplace attitudes. Suggestions for further investigation of the relationship between work and workplace attitudes and type of organization are offered.

https://openalex.org/W2006584556

Social Workers and Policy- Practice: The Role of Social and Professional Values

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ABSTRACT Although policy practice is regarded as an essential component of social work, the actual involvement of social workers in policy practice is apparently very limited. This article presents the findings of a study that seeks to explore the role of social and professional values in support by social workers in Israel for engagement in policy practice and their actual involvement in this type of practice. The findings indicate that socioeconomic orientations and professional values have an impact on social worker's perception of policy practice and the degree to which they are actually involved in the social welfare policy process. In particular, it was found that attitudes toward social justice played a major role in the social worker's perceptions of, and involvement in, policy practice.

https://openalex.org/W2048604494

The Perils of Compensation in Social Welfare Policy: Disability Policy in Israel

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This article explores different notions of social justice implied in the concept of compensation in social welfare. Compensation is a primary allocative principle according to which programs are structured and eligibility for benefits is determined. While familiar in legal terms, the notion of compensation within the social welfare domain has a very different meaning. This article clarifies the meaning of compensation in the social welfare context and distinguishes it from two other principles: need and insurance. The implications of employing these principles in social welfare programs is illustrated by an examination of disability policy in Israel.

https://openalex.org/W3125382678

The Pro-Elderly Bias of Social Policies in Israel: A Historical-Institutional Account

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Accelerated population ageing and high voting turnout rates among elderly voters in recent decades have led many social scientists to predict increasing pro-elderly biases in the social policies of mature welfare states. This article investigates and empirically estimates the evolving age orientation of social policies in Israel, which is a comparatively young society that has nevertheless aged significantly since independence in 1948. We present a historical and qualitative overview of the development of policy efforts towards different age groups and develop an Elderly/Non-elderly Spending Ratio at four points in time between 1975 and 2005. We argue that in its first five decades, the Israeli welfare state uniquely combined a broadly universalistic and citizenship-based outlook with a number of significant particularistic spending biases towards specific subgroups. But from the second half of the 1990s onwards, the pro-elderly policy bias of the Israeli welfare state has strongly increased. These findings support Lynch's thesis for 21 OECD countries, which posits that a shift from a universal to a more occupationally based institutional model of welfare will result in a higher pro-elderly bias of social spending.

https://openalex.org/W2084650222

Globalization and the welfare state

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Introduces a special issue on globalization and the welfare state. Asserts that economic globalization constrains national economic and social policy far more now than ever before, although the level of international trade has not increased that much compared to levels at the beginning of this century. Talks about the political consequences of economic globalization, particularly welfare state retrenchment in the advanced capitalist world. Outlines the papers included in this issue – comparing welfare system changes in Sweden, the UK and the USA; urban bias in state policy‐making in Mexico; and the developing of the Israeli welfare state. Concludes that economic globalization has a limited effect in shaping social welfare policy in advanced capitalist countries; nevertheless, recommends further research into which aspects of economic globalization shape social welfare policy.

https://openalex.org/W1978965223

The Welfare State in Israel: The Evolution of Social Security Policy and Practice.

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Though a latecomer to the ranks of social democratic welfare states, Israel developed a modern system of social security in the span of three decades. The authors examine the key policy issues common to all social security systems, while analyzing the distinctive Israeli process of policymaking in each case. They look specifically, for example, at the role played in the development of social security policy by ideology, politics, public opinion, demography, and ethnicity; the conditions under which various forms of social protection reduce inequality; and the effects of different types of institutional structures on the development of social policy.

https://openalex.org/W2800733527

The Privatization of Social Services in Israel

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This chapter discusses the privatization of social services in Israel and examines its implications for recipients and providers, and the public at large. After providing an overview of the privatization of social services in Israel, it offers lessons and dilemmas from the Israeli case that might be of interest internationally. The chapter concludes by revisiting the consequences of the privatization of social services and looks to the future of privatization in this field through the vision of a “regulatory welfare state,” according to which welfare state values are maintained in the new structure via regulatory means.

https://openalex.org/W2974654430

Changes in the Provision of Family Care to Frail Older People in Familistic Welfare States: Lessons From Israel and Italy

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Objective: Our article aims to investigate changes in the rate of informal care provision, which occurred in Israel and Italy in the last decade. In addition, we analyze typology and magnitude of the main factors contributing to explain the probability of providing informal care. Method: We used data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) at two selected time points (2006/2007 and 2015). Results: The probability of offering social support to elder family members who live outside the household has been trending down substantially over the years. The likelihood of providing unpaid care is significantly higher when one performs volunteer or charitable work and/or engages in leisure activities, and the importance of these two variables has been growing over the years. Discussion: Israel and Italy have experienced over the years a remarkable decline in the share of older adults providing informal care. The article helps to identify which factors have been associated with this phenomenon.

https://openalex.org/W2488237008

Residential Care for Children “At Risk” in Israel

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This chapter focuses on the 10,573 children and youth and the care provided them in the Israeli residential system. Section 2 briefly relates some of the historical and social factors that have influenced the development of residential care in Israel and the role of residential care within the continuum of child welfare services. Section 3 describes the current situation of the residential care system in Israel and the children in care. Section 4 then elaborates on some recent developments and changes in the Israeli residential system. The chapter concludes by indicating some of the major challenges and developing trends.

https://openalex.org/W608620408

Social Welfare Services for Israel’s Arab Population

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In the mid-1980s, over 40 percent of Arab households fell below the poverty line. In this book, Dr. Haidar, a Palestinian living in Israel, presents the results of extensive fieldwork in Arab and Jewish localities on the social conditions and welfare service needs of Arab children, youth, and elderly in Israel.

https://openalex.org/W3153562439

Challenges Facing Social Work in the Indigenous Arab Minority in Israel: Voices from the Field

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Abstract The article identifies challenges to social work practice voiced by 43 Arab social workers in Israel, aimed at clarifying whether there is a need to indigenise their practice in Israel's hegemonic Jewish society in view of four challenges to their interventions that they identified: inappropriate professional training; insufficient knowledge of English as the international language of social work; local Arab authorities failure to recognise many welfare needs and social work’s role in mitigating them; and the unique situation of the country's Arab minority, such as restrictions on its contacts with colleagues in the Arab world. These challenges, in contrast to those that social workers face in the Arab world and in other non-‘Western’ countries, suggest that Arab social workers in Israel see little need to indigenise their practice.

https://openalex.org/W4206939661

“Together in a pressure cooker”: Parenting children with disabilities during the COVID-19 lockdown

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COVID-19 has had a disproportionate and unprecedented impact on children with disabilities, their parents and families. This impact has been particularly evident during periods of lockdowns and severe restrictions.This study employed the social model of disability to illuminate negative and positive experiences of Israeli parents of children with disabilities during the first COVID-19 lockdown, as well as the way social environments, particularly educational and welfare services, shape that experience.The study draws upon thematic analysis of written responses of 80 Israeli parents to open-ended questions.Three main themes were found: (1) lack of responsiveness of both informal and formal supports to family needs, mainly in the educational and welfare systems; (2) juggling multiple roles and tasks along with the parents' routinely intensive caregiving role; and (3) the impact on the family's wellbeing and relationships.These results are discussed in light of the social model of disability, showing how social restrictions and barriers affect both negative and positive experiences of these families. Also discussed are practical implications for future crises.

https://openalex.org/W2054274705

Categorical Benefits in Welfare States: Findings from Great Britain and Israel

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This paper examines the role of categorical benefits; i.e. non‐means‐tested and non‐contributory cash benefits, in Great Britain and Israel. After introducing a more rigorous definition of the term and differentiating between various types of categorical benefits, it looks at the role and recent development of these benefits in the two countries. It finds that they play a growing and significant role in the social security systems of Great Britain and Israel. An examination of the decision‐making process surrounding the adoption of these benefit programmes indicates why this is so. On the basis of these findings, initial conclusions relating to changes in the nature of social security are presented.

https://openalex.org/W2057456818

Social and Educational Welfare Policy in the Arab Sector in Israel

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(2002). Social and Educational Welfare Policy in the Arab Sector in Israel. Israel Affairs: Vol. 9, No. 1-2, pp. 68-96.

https://openalex.org/W2051515555

The Israeli Welfare State at Crossroads

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ABSTRACT The paper deals with the evolution of the welfare state in Israel and the impact it has had on the structure of Israeli society. It outlines the major phases of its development and stresses the social and political forces that shaped the process of trial and error in which these have evolved. The achievements and limits of the Israeli welfare state are analysed in the context of its particular circumstances as a developing industrial society that has also to cope with the integration of its various ethnic immigrant groups and with maintaining the morale of the population in face of the continuous threat to its national security. In conclusion the paper reviews the roots of the current crisis and outlines the possible strategies to deal with it, within the framework of Israeli society and in an international perspective.

https://openalex.org/W2163347758

Do Government Transfers Crowd out Private Transfers to Non‐profit Organizations? The Israeli Experience

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Considers the importance of private contributions to not‐for‐profit organizations (NPOs) in capitalistic welfare states but notes that the share of national income donated to NPOs is significantly lower in Israel than in the USA. Focuses on donations to NPOs in Israel and provides an empirical analysis of the interrelationship of private donations and Government transfers to NPOs. Describes the analytical background relating private contribution to Government activity, examining particularly the possibility that Government expenditure exerts a “crowding‐out” effect on private contributions. Concludes that, with special reference to Israel, Government budgets and private donations to NPOs should co‐exist, in order to maximise the sources devoted to social services or to obtain an adequate variety of such services.

https://openalex.org/W2114424181

Comparison of the Social and Professional Ideology of Caseworkers and Community Social Workers in Israel

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This article seeks to study whether caseworkers and community social workers subscribe to similar social work values, such as promoting social change and social justice, by comparing the social and professional ideologies of 123 caseworkers and 113 community social workers in Israel. The findings reveal that the community social workers consistently showed a greater social orientation than the caseworkers. They were more inclined than the caseworkers to believe that the government is responsible for social provision and to support universal benefits. They were less inclined to believe that the welfare state has negative effects on its recipients and placed more emphasis on the social-structural causes of poverty. They attributed greater importance than the caseworkers to the goal of promoting social justice and were more inclined to believe that social workers should engage in community development and policy practice. However, alongside the differences, members of both groups attributed importance to social justice and government responsibility for welfare, and favoured social-structural explanations of poverty.

https://openalex.org/W1494304224

Human Rights of Children with Disabilities in Israel - The Vision and the Reality

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The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, from 1989, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, from 2007, define a vision in which party States ensure the welfare of children with disabilities and their right to enjoy a full and respected life in the community, with their families, in conditions which meet their basic needs and ensure their ability to actualize their potential, enjoy basic liberty, freedom of expression, active and inclusive participation in the community life, based on equal opportunities. Approximately 8.7% of the children in Israel cope with functional challenges, disabilities or chronic diseases requiring constant intervention through medical or non medical care. The aim of the current article is to outline the international vision defined by the Conventions and the situation in Israel regarding the rights of children with disabilities to life, life with family in the community, education, health and accessibility – as legislated and as actually implemented. The article shows that Israel is committed to the international conventions and has invested much in legislation, budget and services for ensuring the social rights of children with disabilities in all areas of life. However Israel still faces the challenges of carrying out the paradigm shift towards the human rights model of disability in practice, by ensuring equal opportunities; by abolishing the poverty and discrimination of the geographical and social periphery; and by implementing inclusive education and accessible public areas and services to all.

https://openalex.org/W2130479381

Social Worker Burnout in Israel: Contribution of Daily Stressors Identified by Social Workers

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The paper examines the contributions to burnout of three day-to-day job stressors—abuse by service users, thwarted implementation of professional decisions and job-related dilemmas—which had been identified as especially upsetting by social workers in a previous study. The study participants were 363 social workers employed in direct service provision in municipal welfare departments in Israel. Since some were employed in the Tel Aviv–Yafo municipality and others in municipalities elsewhere in Israel, place of employment was included in the analyses. The findings show that abuse by service users and place of employment contributed to all three of Maslach's dimensions of burnout, while neither thwarted implementation of professional decisions nor job-related dilemmas contributed significantly to any of them. The contribution of client abuse challenges previous findings suggesting that service user factors play little role in burnout. The finding that the Tel Aviv–Yafo social workers had less burnout than the others requires further examination to determine why.

https://openalex.org/W1965789842

Realizing Rights in Social Work

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Non‐take‐up of rights is a problem that plagues many social programs. The premise in this article is that enhancing access to benefits, services, and labor rights is an integral part of social work. The article examines the engagement of social workers in Israel in case advocacy for welfare and labor rights. It also considers the factors that have an impact on this type of activity. It finds that the actual involvement of social workers in case advocacy is limited and that the perceived policies of the organizations in which social workers are employed have a major effect on their engagement in this.

https://openalex.org/W2117175136

Social workers’ attitudes towards social welfare policy

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As social workers are widely called upon to take an active role in influencing social welfare policy, a better understanding of their views on the welfare state is crucial. This study examines the attitudes of 422 Israeli social workers from diverse social welfare agencies regarding social welfare policy. The framework for understanding these attitudes includes the notions of professionalisation processes, social work values, and the class position of social workers. The study's findings indicate that support for the welfare state is quite moderate and these reflect more the class affiliation of social workers than their professional values and the professionalisation process.

https://openalex.org/W2154705917

Formulating the Matthew Principle: on the role of the middle classes in the welfare state

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The Matthew Principle, which formulates the role of the middle classes in the welfare state, is discussed in this article. The middle classes are described as primary beneficiaries of the welfare state. This status is achieved through the ability of this social group to influence the policy‐formulating process by way of six different channels of influence. It is also facilitated due to the impact of middle‐class clients upon the implementation stage of social policy. A case study of employment policy in Israel illustrates the workings of different aspects of the Matthew Principle.

https://openalex.org/W2934289444

Innovating Long-Term Care Provision in Mediterranean Welfare States: A Comparison Between Italy and Israel

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Social innovations in long-term care (LTC) may be useful in more effective responses to the challenges of population aging for Western societies. One of the most investigated aspects in this regard is the role of family/informal care and strategies to improve its integration into the formal care system, yielding a more holistic care approach that may enhance opportunities for aging in place. This article reports the findings of a comparative research focusing on the Italian and Israeli LTC systems as representative of the Mediterranean "family-based" care model. To analyze the innovative solutions that have been adopted or are needed to improve LTC provision in these two contexts, focus groups and expert interviews have been carried out in both countries to identify the most relevant challenges and responses to them and to highlight promising policies and strategies to be adopted or up-scaled in the future. These include multidisciplinary case and care management, a stronger connection between prevention and LTC provision, and more systematic recognition of the role and limits of informal caregivers' contributions.

https://openalex.org/W2081503253

Decommodification and beyond: A Comparative Analysis of Work-Injury Programmes

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This article examines work-injury programmes in different welfare states. The article’s goals are to provide a better understanding of these programmes and to further develop concepts for comparison between welfare states. Work-injury programmes are a component in the social security systems of most countries throughout the world. Nevertheless, cross-national comparative research into this field of social protection has been very limited. This article undertakes a quantitative comparison of work-injury programmes in 10 different welfare states, which represent various types of welfare regimes. Decommodification and self-development are the two key concepts that serve as a basis for the comparison and indexes measuring these two concepts are constructed. The findings of the study indicate that social-democratic welfare states, followed by Australia and Israel, have workinjury programmes with the greatest potential for decommodification and self-development. By contrast, work-injury programmes in liberal welfare states such as Britain and the United States have a low decommodifying and self-development potential.

https://openalex.org/W2120712491

Resettlement and Modernization In Post-Nomadic Bedouin Society: The Case of Segev Shalom, Israel

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This paper evaluates the Israeli government's Negev Bedouin-resettlement program from the government's and the target community's perspectives. Using survey data gathered in one Bedouin town, the provision of public services by the government and their effective use by the Bedouin community are measured and analyzed. The effects of urbanization on the Bedouin economy and social structures— both positive and negative—are addressed. It is concluded that Bedouin development programs such as that in the Negev Desert would benefit from greater awareness of and sensitivity to the cultural, religious, and social features of these groups. It is suggested that more comprehensive, user-oriented planning which encourages and includes public participation is essential in furthering social and economic development in such communities.

https://openalex.org/W2921144867

Public educational psychology services in Israel on the internet

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The public Educational Psychology Services provide mental health services for children and youth in Israel, alongside the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Services. The Psychological and Counseling Services Division of the Ministry of Education (known as SHEFI - Sherut Psychology Yeutzi), funds and supervises local Educational Psychology Services which are aimed at supporting child development and enhancing the emotional welfare of children and their families. The demand for the services of educational psychologists is increasing. Yet this demand is not being met due to the insufficient number of job slots allocated, the geographical distances in outlying peripheral areas, the already high loads in the psychologists’ daily routine, and other such problems. A wide range of effective psychological services can be offered via the internet. The internet therefore has the potential to serve as a useful and efficient missing link between the high demands for educational psychology services on the one hand and the ability and desire among educational psychologists to meet those needs on the other. Moreover, even if the services were fully staffed, the resources would still be insufficient to provide personal (face-to-face) treatment for all, so that internet-based access to services would still need to be developed. Those services provide unique advantages such as overcoming distance and enabling higher availability of mental health professionals. The objectives of the current study were to describe the prevalence of public educational psychology services available online in Israel, with specific focus on the Arab minority and the peripheral regions, and to highlight the benefits of expanding those services. During 2016, we conducted a survey comprising all 252 Public Educational Psychology Service units in Israel (n = 170 in the Jewish sector, and n = 82 in the Arab sector). The method used to search for online sites was in line with the actions taken by an average end-user searching for information on the internet. The survey found that 125 of the units in the Jewish sector (73.5% of those units) and all 82 units in the Arab sector had no online site at all, constituting 82.2% of all the units in Israel. Of the 45 Jewish websites located by the survey, 42 (93.3% of the sites) were not user friendly (not interactive), and only three offered the possibility of interacting with psychologists (6.7% of the sites). Nevertheless, all the sites (n = 45) offered a high degree of quality and variety that exceeded basic information. We believe that the presence of educational psychologists on the internet is essential in order to meet the challenges presented by the growing needs of students, parents and teachers in the current digital era. The survey revealed that the public educational psychology system in Israel has not yet bridged the technological gap. Special attention should be directed to the peripheral regions and to the Arab sector, where the technological services can make a significant contribution. The local public services’ attempts to create and operate websites (45 Jewish websites according to the survey), are indicative of the determination to offer psychological support to the community at large, and of the ambition to overcome availability and accessibility problems. The concept of internet services might be useful not only for the SHEFI, but also for the array of mental health services for children and youth in Israel. Thus, we recommend that a policy should be formulated regarding internet-based mental health services for children and youth in Israel, and we call for a collaboration between the various ministries in implementing this process.

https://openalex.org/W2271945149

Rise of the Regulatory Welfare State? Social Regulation in Utilities in Israel

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Abstract This article explores the relation between economic liberalization, regulation and welfare. It asks how the state regulates, delays or prevents service disconnection due to debt and arrears, and what this kind of policy implies regarding the use of regulation as a form of social policy. This is done through a comparative study of the electricity and water sectors in Israel after liberalization. It finds that after initial economic reform, both sectors saw a growth in regulation intended to compensate for the social effects of reform, in what may be termed the ‘regulatory welfare state’. However, this form of social protection has been residual and incoherent. The article argues that trying to separate economic reform from its social consequences is unrealistic and may lead to adverse social and economic results. Second, findings raise concerns regarding the potential of the regulatory welfare state to deliver effective and fair social policy.

https://openalex.org/W1964423064

The readiness of health profession students to comply with a hypothetical program of forced migration of a minority population.

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The readiness of Jewish Israeli medical, psychology, and social work students to cooperate in a hypothetical government program involving expulsion of Arabs from Israel was explored via research scenarios that pointedly used terms reminiscent of Holocaust events. Strong moral sensitivity was expected on the part of the study subjects as both Jewish Israelis and vocationally committed to human welfare. The authors argue that the readiness of as many as one-third of the sample to "follow orders" is a disturbing sign, calling for greater vigilance in defense of human rights and values.

https://openalex.org/W2122661599

Trapped in Resistance: Collective Struggle through Welfare Fraud in <scp>I</scp>srael

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This paper offers a qualitative empirical examination of the noncompliance of Israeli female welfare recipients with welfare laws and authorities. The paper demonstrates that their behavior, defined as “welfare fraud” by the law, is a limited form of collective resistance to the Israeli welfare state. Although the acts of welfare fraud that the women in my study engaged in entail a political claim against the state, the relationship between these acts and notions of collectivity is very constricted in form. The women's collectivity is shown to be constrained by the welfare authorities' invasive and pervasive investigation practices and methods. Due to fear of disclosure to the authorities, the women emerged as deliberately isolating themselves from their immediate environment and potential members of their like-situated collective. This weakens the connection between the women's acts of resistance and their collectivity, and prevents their acts of resistance from driving social change, trapping them in their harsh conditions and existence.

https://openalex.org/W1915938102

Israel's Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law: Current Status and Future Directions

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Since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States (1990), many countries have passed similar disability laws, shifting the focus from a social welfare approach to a human rights approach. Similarly, in 1998 the Israeli Knesset passed the first three sections of the new Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law (Employment, Public Accommodations and Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with disabilities), leaving seven additional sections for future legislation. However, a thorough examination of its implementation reveals that the law has been only partially implemented, and there is concern as to whether this legislation brings a significant change in employment and social opportunities for people with disabilities in Israeli society. The article reviews and discusses the matter and suggests possible future directions for disability rights legislation.

https://openalex.org/W2772677897

Regulating social welfare services: Between compliance and learning

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With the ongoing privatisation and marketisation of social welfare, the regulatory functions of governments have become much more important, necessitating careful attention. Yet there is little scholarly work on the goals and nature of regulating privatised social welfare services. To fill this gap, this study examined the regulatory process used by the Israeli Youth Protection Authority (YPA) to regulate homes for at‐risk youth. Based on 24 semi‐structured interviews with inspectors and staff, the article highlights the YPA's distinctive learning‐based and collaborative approach to regulating social welfare services. This approach puts the capacity‐building of professional skills, rather than compliance, at the centre of the regulatory mission and leaves room for professional discretion to the homes and the inspectors. The article outlines the distinctive features of this approach, considering its advantages and shortcomings in comparison with the more legalistic and audit‐based approaches currently dominating the field of social care inspection.

https://openalex.org/W2047531177

Acting Like It Matters: A Scoping Review of Simulation in Child Welfare Training

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AbstractSimulation-based training is often used to prepare health practitioners and is increasingly employed to train child welfare workers. This scoping review systematically searched the published and grey literature for studies that evaluated training for child welfare practitioners and used simulation methods that included standardized actors. Three studies met inclusion criteria, all documenting improvement in participants' use of specific skills. Other outcomes were mixed, possibly reflecting the heterogeneity of samples, study methods, measures, training of actors, theoretical frameworks, and content areas. Though results were mostly positive, the small number of studies indicates a substantial need for further research.KEYWORDS: child maltreatmentchild welfareworkforce issuestrainingsimulationscoping review ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe authors wish to thank Rami Benbenishty, Paula David, and Hillel Schmidt whose work on simulation in training child welfare workers at the Haruv Institute, Jerusalem, Israel further stimulated our interest in conducting this review.FUNDINGThis research was supported by the Competency for Professional Practice Initiative, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.Additional informationNotes on contributorsMarion BogoMarion Bogo, MSW, AdvSW, is a Professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Aron ShlonskyAron Shlonsky, MSW, MPH, PhD, is Professor of Evidence-Informed Practice in the Department of Social Work at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and an Associate Professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Barbara LeeBarbara Lee, MSW, is a doctoral candidate in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Sarah SerbinskiSarah Serbinski, MSW, is a doctoral candidate in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

https://openalex.org/W2235609454

Tracing Stigma in Long-Term Care Insurance in Israel: Stakeholders’ Views of Policy Implementation

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Almost all developed countries provide some answers for long-term care, but only a few countries in the world, such as Japan, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, and Israel, have implemented long-term care insurance (LTCI) based on legislation and entitlement principles. In Israel, a community-based LTCI social program has achieved multiple goals and considerably improved the life of frail older people. However, some studies show that despite the rising costs of home care and the mandatory and almost universal nature of LTCI there are still cases in which people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia or their relatives vacillate or even decline to make use of their rights. We examined the question of whether these patterns may reflect the presence of welfare stigma (i.e., stigmatized views of LTCI) either related to identity stigma of persons with AD or to treatment stigma, usually associated with welfare bureaucracy. Based on a qualitative design, this article uses a methodology of personal in-depth and focus group triangulation, by which the views of three groups of stakeholders are explored and compared: persons with AD, relatives, and professionals. Findings showed the presence of stigmatic self-images among persons with AD or other types of dementia and the absence of such images in relatives' and professionals' views of them and of LTCI. However, treatment stigma was found to be primarily associated with eligibility determination procedures. The study concludes that LTCI, even when mandated and almost universal, may also generate welfare stigma due to the ways in which it is implemented.

https://openalex.org/W2502382887

The Welfare State as an Employer: An Unacknowledged Avenue of Opportunity for Palestinian Women in Israel

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Research on welfare states tends to focus on their role in income distribution and the provision of services. However, functions like education, health, and social care also play a massive role as employers, dominating the public sector labor market. In a comparative analysis of developed economies including Israel, Mandel and Semyonov (2005) found that the public social services accounted for a high of 25 percent of total employment in Denmark and Sweden and a low of 7–8 percent in North America and Germany. By this measure, Israel ranked fourth out of 20 countries.

https://openalex.org/W2887255123

Career choice in the context of political conflict: the case of Palestinians social workers in Israel

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The helping professions in general and social work in particular pose particular challenges and opportunities for national minority group members. This article adds to the present knowledge in the literature concerning the interaction between career choice in the welfare professions and minority status, by looking at the voices of Palestinian Israeli social workers. The article is based on data gathered through in-depth interviews with 32 Palestinian Israeli social workers, describes the motivations, the process of choosing social work as a profession and the barriers that Palestinian Israeli professionals face in the context of the political, social and economic factors shaping their lives as belonging to a national minority in Israel.

https://openalex.org/W2105497033

The Development of Community Care Policy for the Elderly: A Comparative Perspective

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A comparison of the development of community care for the elderly in the province of Ontario, Canada, and in the State of Israel is presented in the light of the economic constraints currently challenging the expansion of welfare state services. The inquiry identified several common issues regarding the nature of the policy mandate for long-term care delivered in the home, the structure of the service delivery system and matters concerning funding arrangements for community care. Issues that emerged in both settings include the relationship between health and social services in the delivery of care at the local level; the separation of purchaser and provider functions; the question of needs-driven versus service-driven social care provisions; accessibility concerns and the aspiration for one-stop entry to the delivery system; the growing involvement of the private sector in the delivery of domiciliary-based personal care services; and the relative paucity of current efforts to address the needs of family caregivers.

https://openalex.org/W2521301342

The Perceptions of Motherhood among Family Social Workers in Social Services Departments in Israel

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This study examined how family social workers in social services departments in Israel perceive motherhood and mothering, in particular how the various aspects of the ‘good mother’ myth are evident in their notions of motherhood and how these are manifested in their encounters with their female clients who are mothers. The research methodology was qualitative, emerging from a critical feminist perspective. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were held with twenty-two Jewish social workers in ten welfare departments in Israel. The study’s findings suggest that, while the participants’ descriptions do not reflect all aspects of the ‘good mother’ myth, elements of that myth do feed into their notions of motherhood. Encounters with the clients’ mothering practices raised mixed feelings in the social workers and, while most of the participants saw a connection between their clients’ mothering practices and their difficult life stories, they opted for a psycho-educational approach in their work with the mothers.

https://openalex.org/W4212928668

Culturally competent social work in Arab–Palestinian locality welfare bureaus in Israel: Is it possible?

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Abstract Ethnic groups exist almost everywhere. Generally, each group is related to uniformly, although it may comprise several subgroups. An example is Israel’s Palestinian-Israeli population, which consists of three ethnic–religious subgroups: Muslims, Christians and Druze. They coexist in nearly all domains of life, but maintain separate schools and family law courts. Most of the professional literature on Palestinian-Israelis, especially in Israel, ignores their differences. This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews conducted in 2018, highlights this lacuna in the context of the demand for multicultural social work. Participants were forty-two male and female social workers—roughly one-third each Muslims, Christians and Druze—in welfare bureaus in ethnically–religiously mixed Palestinian-Israeli localities. The findings reveal that the ethnic–religious composition of the social workers in a locality does not reflect the ethnic–religious balance of the population. Despite the interviewees’ lack of formal ethnic–religious-sensitive knowledge, they displayed informal knowledge. Nevertheless, the different needs of the three ethnic–religious groups met with undifferentiated responses. The welfare bureaus prefer a uniform policy rather than recognising differences, impeding the advancement of inter-ethnic cultural competence. This article contributes to world knowledge regarding cultural competence and highlights the need for culturally competent skills that are sensitive also to ethnic–religious subgroups.

https://openalex.org/W2010105771

In the Front Line: The Impact of Specialist Training for Hospital Physicians in Children at Risk on Their Collaboration With Social Workers

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Until recently, dealing with children at risk in Israeli hospitals was almost exclusively the domain of medical social workers. Suspected cases of abuse or neglect must be identified in real-time, during the child's short stay in the hospital, and the decision of whether or not to report the case, and to whom (law enforcement or welfare authorities), must be made. The recognition that effective treatment also demands the involvement of physicians led to the development of an intensive training program for hospital-pediatricians. The current study, based on in-depth interviews with the doctors who participated in the program and the social workers who work with them at 14 hospitals in Israel, examined the impact of the training on cooperation between the two groups, seeking to determine whether the doctors' increased familiarity with the social work profession enhanced team-work. Phenomenological analysis of the interviews revealed several themes, indicating greater collaboration between the doctors and social workers. However, the participants also noted increased friction between the two groups. Possible explanations and practical recommendations for enhancing the potential effectiveness of such collaborations are offered. The study has implications for designing similar training programs as well as for improving the dynamics between the two professions.

https://openalex.org/W2771615736

Insider Status and Outsider Tactics: Advocacy Tactics of Human Service Nonprofits in the Age of New Public Governance

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Abstract Policy advocacy is an eminent feature of the activities of non-profit human service organizations (NPHSOs), allowing them to represent their constituencies, in addition to their core activity as providers of social services in welfare states. The article presents findings on the advocacy tactics of 47 NPHSOs in Israel, focusing on the ways in which partnership policies in the age of New Public Governance affect their activities. The findings reveal that the shift towards increased governmental funding and contracting-out to nonprofits, as part of the NPG scheme, increases opportunities for the NPHSOs to influence public policy, using a wide variety of both insider cooperative tactics and more confrontational outsider tactics. NPHSOs are firstly concerned with establishing their insider status, using cooperative tactics. After achieving this goal, they feel confident enough to turn to more aggressive outsider tactics, utilizing their relative power as major providers of social services.

https://openalex.org/W2021869944

Responsive Public Housing

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A series of studies in public housing neighborhoods in Israel explored a widespread phenomenon of user-initiated expansion of small units. The residents of these neighborhoods were working-class families of below average income, who usually function as passive users in the services of the welfare state, including housing services. However, when these people gain control over their housing, when physical conditions enable it, when the social environment encourages self-improvement, and when the administrative institutions do not inhibit it, a considerable portion of them turn into active, participating users, contributing to their own welfare as well as to that of the public in general. The results are significant amelioration in both objective dimension (maintenance) and subjective dimension (satisfaction), which leads to alleviation instead of deterioration of housing conditions and elevation of neighborhood status.

https://openalex.org/W2003031960

“JDC-ESHEL,” a unique non-governmental organization dedicated to the elderly in Israel

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“JDC-ESHEL,” a non-governmental organization (NGO), has over the past 35 years been involved in the planning and development of services for the elderly in Israel. This organization functions under the auspices of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an American based NGO which provides relief, rescue and reconstruction services to Jewish and non-Jewish clients around the world. Under the roof of the relevant government ministries, JDC-ESHEL brings together prominent stakeholders and professionals involved in the care of Israel's older citizens in order to plan and initiate pilot projects relevant to the elderly. Through an explicit consultative process, this NGO has developed services both in the community as well as in the institutional sectors, helping in this way to keep the rates of both acute and long-term nursing home care in Israel down to manageable levels. JDC-ESHEL offers an instructive example of how a nationally based NGO can play a major role in the planning and development of relevant services for the elderly, via the leverage produced through its relatively modest budget. In this way it provides a multiplier effect throughout the entire health and social service sectors.

https://openalex.org/W1521137208

A Joint University—Field Agency: Toward the Integration of Classroom and Practicum

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Abstract The authors describe an innovative program designed to create a joint university and local municipality agency in Israel. The agency was structured to be a teaching laboratory that would offer innovative services for social work clients and a unique field placement for students. Four major goals involved joint outcomes for both university and municipality. These included (a) demonstrating evaluation research as a means of accountability and as a tool for practice; (b) using generic social work methods for work with families; (c) reaching out to difficult and high-risk clients with innovative programs; and (d) using the laboratory as a training center for welfare workers, agency supervisors, and students from all levels of the social work programs. The authors describe and evaluate each of the goals, discussing the implications for teaching and for social work practice.

https://openalex.org/W2528061453

Low-Income Women’s Encounters with Social Services: Negotiation over Power, Knowledge and Respectability

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Social work literature has paid increased attention to relations between those living in poverty and social service workers. Numerous studies have reported inconsistencies between clients’ and social workers’ perceptions of the adequacy of support. Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to clients’ voices, and seldom are they treated as experts in their own lives. This qualitative study examines the perceptions of women living in poverty in terms of their encounters with social services, focusing on their felt experience. Based on in-depth interviews of fifty breadwinning Jewish Israeli mothers, the analysis reveals four central mechanisms of social exclusion within the encounters between social service workers and their clients, which deprive the women of the opportunity to own power, knowledge and respectability: closing doors; humiliation, shame and stigma; accusation and criticism; and invisibility. To a considerably lesser extent, the analysis also points to mechanisms of social inclusion: visibility, dignity and respect. The paper discusses the implications of these findings in terms of how encounters between women living in poverty and the social services could facilitate social inclusion and respectability, as well as poverty alleviation.

https://openalex.org/W2079070761

Recruiting Arab Fathers in a Center for Children at Risk in Israel

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Arab society in Israel is positioned between the traditional, collective values of Arab culture and the more prevalent Western individualistic values of the Israeli society at large. This poses a challenge for the welfare services in Israel, especially in the case of Arab clients, who tend to receive and interpret the social workers' messages as contradictory to their cultural norms. Therefore, recruiting Arab fathers for treatment is a particularly difficult task. The article focuses on creating a culturally sensitive process for recruiting Arab fathers for treatment in a center dealing with Arab families at risk in Israel.

https://openalex.org/W2097802524

Work and Workplace Attitudes on Social Workers: Do They Predict Organizational Reputation?

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Business and Society ReviewVolume 111, Issue 1 p. 67-87 Work and Workplace Attitudes on Social Workers: Do They Predict Organizational Reputation? ANAT FREUND, ANAT FREUND University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelSearch for more papers by this author ANAT FREUND, ANAT FREUND University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelSearch for more papers by this author First published: 09 February 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8594.2006.00262.xCitations: 11 Anat Freund, Ph.D, is a lecturer at the School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume111, Issue1March 2006Pages 67-87 RelatedInformation

https://openalex.org/W2976259588

Resisting Neoliberal Social Work Fragmentation: The Wall-to-Wall Alliance

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Worldwide neoliberal policies are transforming the landscape of social work. Studies have shown that these policies increased social workers' caseloads, regulated welfare expenditures, impaired public services' capabilities to attend to the needs of growing demand, transformed social services delivery by implanting new public management methods, and often also worsened working conditions and deteriorated the professional status of social workers. Moreover, these policies have raised both poverty and inequality levels and left their negative marks on social work education, by prioritizing academic disciplines more attuned with the needs of neoliberal regimes. This article seeks to encourage schools of social work, social workers in the social services, and people living in poverty to challenge the harmful impact of this context by engaging in meaningful alliances focused on the fight against poverty and social exclusion. This article presents a long-term partnership project between a school of social work, local public social services, and groups of active clients, to tackle the issue of poverty in Israel. The article describes the project, introduces the theoretical and methodological principles, analyzes achievements and challenges, and finally discusses the potential contribution of such partnerships for the future of the profession.

https://openalex.org/W2094233921

The Involvement of Social Workers in Fundraising

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Abstract Despite growing interest in fundraising as part of the social worker's role, there has been no comprehensive research on this subject. The purpose of the present research is to begin to bridge that gap. Five dimensions of fundraising are defined and a theoretical framework, comprised of factors that may be related to social workers' involvement in this activity, is developed. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire, administered to social workers in welfare departments in Israel. Statistical analysis of the findings indicates low to moderate mean levels of social worker involvement in fundraising. The variable that contributes most to involvement in fundraising is the social worker's sense of efficacy for this activity. The paper offers several theoretical and practical conclusions and suggests directions for further research.

https://openalex.org/W1572816021

Retired Israeli Social Workers:

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A survey of retired professional Israeli social workers found gradual withdrawal from paid work and increased participation in social welfare volunteer work. Their satisfaction with retirement in general was related to their income and health status; their satisfaction with their retirement activities as a retired social worker was also related to their income and health, plus related to their work status. Further cross-cultural comparisons of retired professionals and other workers are urged.

https://openalex.org/W2069691189

Deterministic trend cross-impact forecasting

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This work is part of a larger effort to develop a computer simulation model to forecast the behavior of the population-economy-welfare system of Israel for the 1974–1980 period. In the process of achieving this goal, a new technique was developed for the purpose of analyzing past trends and projecting them into the future. Using this technique, it is now possible to produce alternative future histories of social trends that are simultaneously extrapolated from the past and are interacting with each other. The methodology used in the model includes a combination of three well known forecasting techniques: trend extrapolation, cross-impact analysis, and system dynamics simulation. These are applied in an illustrative example to a simple five trend system consisting of: (1) Israeli population; (2) GNP; (3) government budget; (4) welfare and social security recipients; and, (5) welfare and social security payments. This exercise should demonstrate the ease of use and the broad applicability of the model. It would be a relatively routine matter to expand the system to include a larger number of societal trends. The result would be a more detailed and sophisticated description and simulation of the real world system under study.

https://openalex.org/W3009838237

Social worker perspectives on marriage and parenting among Muslim men with intellectual disabilities in Israel

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Background: Social workers play a central role in service delivery for parents with intellectual disability (ID). Within Israeli Muslim society, men with ID are likely to marry non-disabled women and create families. This study adds to scarce research on how social workers view these families, and how they might better serve their needs.Method: A thematic analysis was conducted on nineteen semi-structured interviews with social workers.Results: Family characteristics are described. Findings illustrate the complicated position of the Israeli Arab Muslim social workers in balancing patriarchal and traditional cultural values against professional values such as social justice and equality. Although personally opposed to these marriages, they feel that they are unable to act against either their professional ethics or social boundaries.Conclusions: Social workers should be trained to support their clients’ transition to marriage and parenthood. Policy makers should promote support services for non-disabled wives of husbands with ID.

https://openalex.org/W2016836869

Vocational Choice and Attitudes toward Welfare Policy

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This study examines the relationship between occupational choice and changes in students' attitudes toward the welfare state during their academic training. The sample included students from four faculties at Israeli universities: social work, sociology, economics and medicine (N = 1,429). The results of the study point at interesting trends concerning the acquisition of attitudes toward social policy: students from different faculties differ in their social policy attitudes prior to their academic training; only students who were exposed directly to issues concerning social policy during their studies demonstrate changes in their attitudes toward the subject and a potential positive change in attitudes is indicated in medical students' attitudes toward social welfare policy, but this depends on academic curriculum. The findings were explained in various ways. Theoretically, vocational choice theories can explain the differences in personal values and in attitudes toward social policy prior to academic training. Social theory such as social dominance theory may explain the differences in social power relating to the support of welfare policy. The findings indicate the importance of including courses concerning this issue in professional training, especially in the helping professions, and for future policy makers such as economics students.

https://openalex.org/W2057406325

Policy Digest. New initiatives in out-of-home placements in Israel

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Child & Family Social WorkVolume 9, Issue 3 p. 305-307 Policy Digest New initiatives in out-of-home placements in Israel Anat Zeira, Anat Zeira The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Mt Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, IsraelSearch for more papers by this author Anat Zeira, Anat Zeira The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Mt Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, IsraelSearch for more papers by this author First published: 02 July 2004 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2004.00334.xCitations: 13Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume9, Issue3August 2004Pages 305-307 RelatedInformation

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Who is for Kids and Who is just Kidding? Members of the Israeli Knesset's Activities on Children's Issues between 1990–2001

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This article reports the findings of a study which explored the activities of members of four Israeli Knessets (MKs) between 1990 and 2001 (the 12th to the 15th Knessets), and sought to explore possible connections between their activities in relation to child welfare and a number of social and political variables. The study was based on archival and quantitative data pertaining to MKs' activities. A short overview of the Israeli political system and the child welfare policy arena is presented, focusing on the changes they both went through between 1990 and 2001. The variety of MKs' activities on issues concerning children are described and possible connections between social and political variables and their activities are explored.

https://openalex.org/W2820518454

Gerontological activism: an example of an intergenerational academic course within a university–community partnership

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This article describes and discusses a novel academic course founded by the Faculty of Welfare and Health Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel, which tried to establish an alternative interaction between graduate students and older persons as part of its graduate academic program. The course “Social Activism and Old Age: From Exclusion to Inclusion” brought together senior citizens from the neighborhoods of the northern city of Haifa and graduate students at the Faculty of Welfare and Health Studies at the University of Haifa. Now in its fourth year, this course has shown that academic education and training in the field of gerontology and aging studies can be shaped in ways which provide meaningful intergenerational learning and that old age activism can be achieved within a broader context of university–community partnership (UCP).

https://openalex.org/W3107352720

Into the Promised Land: Modelling the Role of Take-Up Agents in Realising Welfare Rights

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Throughout the years, social policy scholars have advanced a multi-level perspective of non-take-up, viewing it as is a complex process shaped by a broad range of interacting barriers and actors. However, a comparatively small amount of that scholarship has addressed the key role of take-up agents: professionals or semi-professionals who actively help clients realise their welfare rights. Moreover, most of this scant literature has tended to focus on the agents’ impact rather than on their role and practices. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with Israeli take-up agents from the public, business, and non-profit sectors, this study seeks to understand better the work of take-up agents in realising their clients’ welfare rights. Our findings show that in order to pass their clients through the gateways of welfare, agents use four keys: knowledge, networking, emotions, and power. The meaning of these keys and related practices is discussed.

https://openalex.org/W2050492631

Social workers' role in tempering inequality in healthcare in hospitals and clinics: a study in Israel

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The paper presents an empirical examination of the role social workers play in tempering inequality in medical care. Data were collected in 2011 through face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 60 social workers employed in hospitals and clinics in Israel and selected through purposive sampling. The interviews probed the social workers' perceptions of the scope, causes and manifestations of inequality in health and healthcare and the actions they took to ameliorate it. The interviews were analysed using grounded theory. The findings show that all the social workers were acutely aware of the inequalities in their places of work, regarded reducing the inequalities as a major part of their role and made efforts to do so. They facilitated communication between doctors and patients of low socioeconomic status and advocated for such patients with medical staff and administration, as well as with the country's medical and social welfare bureaucracies. The paper details the means they used and the challenges they faced. The study highlights the important role that social workers play in reducing inequality in healthcare.

https://openalex.org/W1586344186

Religious Supply, Welfare State Restructuring and Faith-Based Social Activities

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This article explores whether recent social and political developments have transformed religious organisations' involvement in welfare activities. Most developed countries have undergone a process of secularisation in which the religious attachments of major segments of society, and also certain state institutions, have weakened. In recent years, welfare state expansion has stalled and most welfare states have entered an ‘age of austerity’. Changes in the welfare state terrain – primarily restructuring – have transformed the opportunity structure faced by faith-based organisations. A survey of faith-based organisation involvement in welfare across four countries – England, Israel, Germany and the Netherlands – reveals a complex picture. While in some countries welfare state restructuring creates opportunities for faith-based organisations to expand their role, in others the combination of secularisation and restructuring create unfavourable conditions for these organisations.

https://openalex.org/W2768097304

The labour movement and welfare policy in Israel, 1948–1977

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This article reviews the attitudes of the Israeli labour movement, particularly the position of Mapai, the dominant party in that movement, regarding the development of welfare policy in Israel from the establishment of the state in May 1948 until May 1977, when Labour lost power to the Likud party. The review and discussion focuses on the development of social security ‒ the national insurance system, the welfare services ‒ the provision of assistance to people in need, as well as the personal care services, which are primarily provided by social work professionals.

https://openalex.org/W3134885975

Social Services in Ethnically Mixed Cities: Street-Level Bureaucracy at the Crossroads of Ethno-National Conflict

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There is a paucity of research examining street-level bureaucracy in cities affected by ongoing ethnopolitical conflict. This study addresses this limitation by exploring the work of social workers in the public services of mixed cities in Israel. It shows the interconnection between ambiguous institutional policies, varying workers’ views of the role of social services, and changing discretion patterns. Findings also suggest that episodes of conflict escalation intensify staff ethnic sectarianism, as well as increase workers’ own ethnic biases, which affect the ways in which they act as a liaison between the welfare system and citizens through their use of discretion.

https://openalex.org/W3083638176

Compulsory military service as a social integrator

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Compulsory military service has become very rare over the last 30 years in the western world. In the past, most countries considered military service as a socialisation platform, given the fact that most of the population was recruited and military units were a "meeting point" for different cultures – because of that the service then was functional as a social integrator. The current research studied changes in social attitude during compulsory military service in Israel, where the society is considered to be essentially divided around ethnical and national issues. This study is based on an analysis of the attitudes of 3200 internet questionnaire participants via social networks in Israel, followed by a U-test of the collected data. Half of the participants were high-school students (average age 17) and half of them discharged soldiers (average age 23). Analysis of the results reveals significant evidence: discharged soldiers tend to be more tolerant then high-school students with regard to other cultures and ethnic origins. A discharged IDF soldier is less afraid of security threats and considers budget prioritisation towards social welfare to be more important than security challenges. These findings show that compulsory military service can still be effective as a social integrator, even in the post-modern world where countries are dealing with migration issues and ethno-national tensions.

https://openalex.org/W1976550671

Welfare and Work in Israel: A Case Study

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The Protestant ethic deeply rooted in American society exemplified the relationship between work and welfare. Social welfare policy in Israel has also been influenced by social, political, and religious movements. The strong tie between work and welfare is a consequence of this. Present-day social welfare policy in Israel has its roots in the formative years of the nation, very much as American welfare policy is grounded in the values of the past. This paper focuses on the development of the ideological and philosophical roots of the work ethic in Israel, its influence on the social services in the period before statehood, and its consequences for welfare policy in the period after statehood, where it is reflected in the major trends of the national insurances and welfare policies up to the present.

https://openalex.org/W2005762165

Productivity of voluntary organizations: the case of Counseling Services for the Elderly (CSE) of the National Insurance Institute (NII) in Israel

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Purpose To review the voluntary operations of Counseling Services for the Elderly, which has operated since 1972 under the National Insurance Institute of the State of Israel. Design/methodology/approach The paper considers the elderly population and its characteristics and the gradual development of the volunteering counseling services. The characteristics of the volunteers and their motivation in this work are also discussed. The training that volunteers undergo is constantly being updated and upgraded, and details are provided that cover home visits, consultations and special projects. Findings Currently, Counseling Services for the Elderly operates 4,278 volunteers in 21 branches across the country, supporting thousands of the elderly on a relatively low budget of less than $3 million for 2003. Originality/value The paper presents a unique voluntary service that is fully integrated into national welfare for the elderly. The service meets the objectives of assistance to the elderly while helping to maintain and develop the quality of life of the volunteer.

https://openalex.org/W3043675646

The Controlled Arena of Contested Practices: Critical Practice in Israel’s State Social Services

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Abstract Scholars claim that the integration of critical social work into public social services is impossible considering its weak position in the managerialist context of these services. Consequently, critical practice is mainly described as covert and reflective of the hierarchical power dynamics between managerialism and critical professionalism. Thus, the option of integrating critical social work into the institutionalised operation of the profession, which involves engaging in critical practice to the extent possible in the context of public services beyond micro and covert practices, has not been sufficiently described. This study addresses this gap, exploring the process of implementing the critical professional ‘Poverty-Aware Social Work Paradigm’ (PAP) into the Israeli public welfare services. Based on twenty-five interviews with field-level social workers in the PAP programmes, the findings describe critical practices as operating simultaneously at the interpersonal and structural levels, mainly through covert actions. The discussion illustrates the significance of merging the interpersonal and structural levels of critical practice and describes the limited arena in which critical professionalism operates in public services.

https://openalex.org/W2009112264

In Israel, Families Look to Two Messengers of God

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In the first of a set of three articles on care of impaired newborns in different countries, an Israeli neonatologist describes the interplay of religious and secular forces in a nation where the decision maker is the autonomous, paternalistic physician operating within an essentially open-ended social welfare system. However, once treatment is initiated, discontinuing it is precluded by a "sanctity of life" religious ethic reinforced by memories of the Holocaust's "selections" for extermination and by a public policy of increasing the Jewish population despite the existence of liberalized abortion.

https://openalex.org/W2170125955

The privatization of social services in Israel and its effects on Israeli society

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The privatization of social services is gaining popularity worldwide, and it is occurring in places as diverse as the United States and central and eastern Europe. It is also a concept that is now being widely adopted in Israel, where it is having a dramatic effect on the structure and function of Israeli social services. This article critically examines the issues involved in privatizing social welfare service in Israel. First, we explore the relationship between Israel's mixed welfare economy and privatization and examine the driving forces behind it. Second, this article investigates the moral and social dimensions of privatizing social in Israel and the implications of injecting the United States model of privatization directly into the Israeli welfare state. Finally, we explore whether privatization will lead to a better and more efficient method of funding and delivering social services in Israel.

https://openalex.org/W2999613131

The circular construction of “risk” for children of oppressed groups: Israeli social workers' perspectives on children of Ethiopian origin

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Abstract This article presents the findings of a research project that explored the perceptions and constructions of Israeli social workers, serving families of Ethiopian origin in Israel, regarding “risk” vis‐à‐vis the children of this community. Thirty semistructured in‐depth interviews with social workers of Ethiopian and non‐Ethiopian origin were conducted and thematically analysed. The study findings indicate that the risk posed to children from the Ethiopian community, as conceived by the social workers charged with their treatment, tends to emerge in the interface between four main contexts: the societal, the neighbourhood, the education system, and the welfare system. Resembling the cycle of poverty, in which a cyclical set of forces trap people in perpetual poverty, children from minority groups are often caught in a cycle of risk. In each of these four contexts, a circular movement was observed in the construction of risk. Breaking the circularity of “risk” requires a context‐informed approach that adopts the perspectives of critical theories, which consider structural factors, power relations, and sociopolitical context when assessing “risk” for children in general, and for children of oppressed groups in particular.

https://openalex.org/W3109990529

The Rise of the Regulatory Constitutional Welfare State, Publicization, and Constitutional Social Rights: The Case of Israel and Britain

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This study investigates the mechanisms that courts apply to expose private social service suppliers to constitutional duties. In doing so, we suggest two variants of welfare regimes: the regulatory constitutional welfare state and the regulatory constitutional neoliberal welfare state. We outline how constitutional rights, including social rights, are applied to private entities, and the tests that courts use in doing so. We then analyze the transformation of traditional jurisprudence in Israel since the 1990s, and we discuss developments in British jurisprudence, which embraces a neoliberal approach. We end with an analysis of the differences between British and Israeli jurisprudence to highlight our theoretical framework’s contribution to comparative research.

https://openalex.org/W4288060666

Poverty, social work, and radical incrementalism: Current developments of the poverty‐aware paradigm

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Abstract Facing the growing domination of neoliberalism and new public management in welfare services, social work scholars and practitioners are engaged in efforts to resist it. Using Schram's concept of radical incrementalism, this article describes and analyzes the development of the Poverty‐Aware Paradigm (PAP) in Israel in light of this resistance. The PAP is a critical framework that focuses on poverty as a central axis of the analysis of power relations between service users and social workers. Since 2015, when the Israeli welfare ministry adopted the PAP as a leading model for social work practice in the social service departments, the paradigm has had a surprisingly warm reception, and its implementation has been extended to the health and justice systems as well as to additional welfare ministry units. The article discusses these developments as examples of ‘radical incrementalism’ that is, strategies of resisting neoliberalism by collaborating with the establishment to ‘bend’ the power of the state to benefit marginalized groups. The article analyzes the contribution of specific elements of the PAP‐its dialectic process of bottom‐up and top‐down development; its discursive contribution; its organizational framework; and its training model. Finally, the article discusses the radical nature of the PAP.

https://openalex.org/W2996576139

Value Profiles and Perceived Job Performance of Social Workers in Israel

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Abstract Values play a crucial role in the credo of social work. Recent definitions of the profession delineate the values that should guide social work worldwide. At the same time, social workers’ employment patterns and changes in the traditional welfare state have resulted in fragmentations in the profession, highlighting the importance of shared professional values. This study is the first to examine value profiles endorsed by social workers, as well as the association between such profiles and social workers’ perceived job performance. Participants in the study were 519 social workers, working in various organizations and with diverse populations in Israel. Its findings delineate three value profiles identified among our sample—growth-focused, social-focused and growth-self-focused. Differences between social workers endorsing each profile were found in terms of workers’ perceived job performance and perceived job-related abilities. These findings are discussed with relation to their unique contribution to what is known about values supported by social workers, as well as concerning the relationship between these values and social workers’ job-related functioning in the context of the social work profession and social services in Israel.

https://openalex.org/W2014756577

Collaboration Between Business and Social Work: Findings from an Israeli Study

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Recent years have seen a considerable increase in business and social organizations' relationships, resulting from the decline of the welfare state and reduction of resources in the public sector, particularly in the social services. This article examines the process by which social workers and businesses develop such relationships in public services and nonprofits. Exploratory qualitative research was conducted among 10 community social workers, the majority of the social workers serving in that area in Israel. The findings indicate the benefits, difficulties, and dilemmas involved in partnerships between social workers and businesses. The article contributes to a deeper understanding of the implications of the relations between business and social work.

https://openalex.org/W2073010965

Reducing Inequality by Means of Neighbourhood Rehabilitation: An Israeli Experiment and its Lessons

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Project Renewal, a national programme for social and physical rehabilitation of distressed neighbourhoods, was aimed at reducing inequalities in Israeli society. This study analyses the influence of Project Renewal on the status of its target neighbourhoods, by means of a before-and-after comparison of these areas with matched control neighbourhoods. An extensive analysis of the characteristics of veteran residents, in-migrants, and out-migrants ( 200 000 households) shows that improving service provision in poor areas is not sufficient to change their status. Renovated housing and improved social services are valuable, but a neighbourhood status and its attractiveness are determined more by its reputation as a place for higher-status households than by the services it offers. Adding new housing to the old neighbourhood, after improving its services, seems to be the required breakthrough, given that the new residents are moderately better-off than the veterans. The final discussion puts the results of this and former studies of Project Renewal in a general context of welfare policy.

https://openalex.org/W2931195813

Rethinking the Social Welfare Regime Model: The Case of Public Policy Toward Israeli Philanthropists

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Following a study on the changing relations between government and philanthropy in Israel, this study highlights the need to rethink the typology of social welfare regimes proposed by Anheier and Daly (2007). The findings of our study indicate that there has been a rapprochement between government and philanthropy in Israel. This trend has led to formal dialogue and collaborations. This trend has also promoted the development of policies toward philanthropy in various government ministries and agencies. The development and implementation of these policies have been facilitated by changes in the unique contextual factors of Israel’s welfare regime. Based on the findings, we propose a conceptualization for understanding governmental policies toward philanthropy in shifting welfare regimes. With regard to the theoretical and practical implications of the study, we propose a model for hybrid welfare regimes that are experiencing ongoing changes.