Survey of Welfare-education After-school Programs of the Children and Youth Service at the Ministry of Social Affairs: Situation before the Implementation of the RAF Method, According to Staff Reports

What characterizes the children in welfare-education after-school programs? How are these programs implemented? How does the programs’ staff maintain a connection with the children’s parents? How do the programs differ among sectors and regions? How does the programs’ staff feel about their job? These and other questions were answered in a survey on the current situation of welfare-education after-school programs of the Children and Youth Service at the Ministry of Social Affairs. This survey is part of a program to improve the supervision of welfare-education after-school programs using the RAF method, which was developed at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. The survey was conducted because of the increasing need to establish a uniform structured regulatory system and because of the success of the implementation of the RAF regulation method in other services at the Ministry of Social Affairs, including the Children and Youth Service’s residential care settings. These programs are a community service whose main goal is to prevent the removal of children at risk from their homes and to strengthen the children and families. About 800 after-school programs currently provide the service countrywide.

The survey examines the welfare-education after-school programs’ characteristics and modes of operation, maps their needs and reviews the staff’s attitude towards their job. The survey was conducted in April-June 2004 among a representative sample of welfare-education after-school programs. It was based on telephone interviews with 79 members of staff. Selected study findings:

  • The children are characterized by having families in financial difficulties (87%), family problems (76%), difficulties at school (72%), and by emotional problems (67%).
  • Almost all (95%) of the staff reported knowing all of the children’s parents, whom they meet mainly in the programs’ special events and when the parents come to collect their children or are invited for a personal talk about them.
  • Most (85%) of the programs organize joint activities for parents and children; the participation rate of parents in the Jewish sector is higher.
  • Contact is maintained with almost all of the children’s schools. The relationship with the school is usually (89%) described as good. More members of staff in the joint programs (under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education) reported knowing the children’s teachers and initiating contact with them.
  • A relatively large percentage (73%) of staff members noted that the electricity and plumbing were not working properly. The emergency equipment (e.g., telephone and distress button) is incomplete, especially in the intensive after-school program (which are under the sole auspices of the Ministry of Social Affairs) and in the Arab sector.

The survey’s data were presented to the management of the Children and Youth Service at the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry’s regional offices. They were used to plan training for staff and to decide on allocation of resources. The survey was funded with the assistance of the Department for Social and Personal Services, the Service for Children and Youth, the Ministry of Social Affairs.