| Two major ideologies influenced the foundation of the state of Israel: Zionism and Socialism. The infrastructure of the state and its major policies reflect these two ideologies. Zionism created the basis for the emphasis on immigrant absorption and integration of immigrants in society through major government systems (such as education). The Socialist ethic was the foundation for egalitarian values that led to the development of an advanced welfare state. While these ideologies played a significant role in the development of services for all segments of the population, in the early years reeducating and integrating children into the new society was perceived as one of the major vehicles for realizing these ideologies. This led to the creation of a network of services for children, which exists today.
Despite this, actual investment in children in Israel has gone through a series of ups and downs, with periods of rapid service development followed by periods of relative stagnation and faltering investment. Following the publication of the first major studies on poverty and child poverty in Israel in the early 1970s and the establishment of a national commission to examine this issue (Roter and Shamai, 1971; Habib, 1974; Prime Minister's Commission on Children and Youth in Poverty, 1973), there was rapid development of services for children. These included: implementation of a system of children's allowances; rapid development of government regulated and subsidized day care and preschool frameworks; reform of the educational system to include an increase in the number of years of free and compulsory education and the development of a wide range of educational enrichment programs for various ages. However, this rapid development slackened during the 1980s, a period of runaway inflation and economic stagnation, leaving many issues and service areas unattended or inadequately addressed. Poverty among children declined dramatically during the 1970s, only to increase sharply and surpass its former levels in the 1980s. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, issues related to children and their well being such as child poverty, child abuse and neglect, and education once again became prominent, regaining the interest of the public and policy makers. Thus, we are currently witnessing a renewed interest in developing services and programs that will more adequately cater to children's needs.
In this report, we focus on five issues that seem to be of particular importance in influencing the well being of children and youth: poverty among children; child abuse and neglect; children not achieving minimal educational levels; delinquency and marginality among youth; and children in Israel's periphery and in disadvantaged neighborhoods. All of these problems limit the ability of children and young people to participate fully and integrate successfully into society and to realize their full potential as adults. In addition, there are certain groups of children and youth that are at higher risk of exhibiting these problems and among whom these problems are more prevalent. We highlight two groups: Arab children and immigrant children.
In this chapter, we will discuss each of these five issues and, when possible, provide information on their prevalence among subgroups of children and youth. |
