Dr. Anna Reznikovski-Kuras

The objectives were: To develop and implement tools that enable ongoing monitoring of the children’s and youth’s characteristics, needs, strengths, and previous interventions, as well as the extent to which outcomes are achieved for them. Subsequently, to conduct a pilot study to examine the extent to which the tools developed serve their intended purpose before they become routine measurement tools.

The objectives: of this study was: 1. To develop a dedicated tool for assessing the quality of all the services that children receive in residential care facilities (the intervention) and their outcomes, through self-reports by the children and their parents. 2. To assess children's needs across seven life domains (behavioral, emotional-mental, social, family, educational-academic-vocational, physical-health, and exposure to harm outside the family); to monitor the services and intervention methods that children receive in residential care facilities; to assess their quality; and to examine the extent to which the desired outcomes are achieved.

As part of the system’s development and validation process, this initiative sought to collect baseline information on the characteristics and needs of the children in residential care facilities, significant life events they had experienced, prior interventions, their strengths, and the extent to which desired outcomes were achieved.

The main purpose of the study was to reflect to the committee members the experiences and attitudes of past and present service recipients regarding the interventions made on their behalf under the Youth Law, with an emphasis on critical decisions made during their treatment and meetings with treatment professionals operating within the framework of the law. The logic underlying this process was rooted in the perception that the knowledge available to service recipients is unique and valuable, is difficult to extract in other ways, and is directly related to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 12 – The Right of the Child to Participate). The study is in line with this principle and seeks to ensure that the procedures for reviewing the law and the recommendations regarding it consider the voices and experiences of those whose lives and fates are directly affected by it.

The objective of the study was to identify and map the barriers and challenges faced by municipal coordinators. This effort is part of the structured development of the Israel Authority for Prevention of Violence, Alcohol and Drug Abuse activities and stems from the understanding that the complexity of this work requires comprehensive and in-depth planning of its programs and of the methods used to evaluate their outcomes.

About a month after the outbreak of the war, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs (hereinafter: the Ministry of Welfare or the Ministry) decided to initiate a rapid assessment process to arrive at interim conclusions regarding the performance of the Ministry and of the social welfare services during the war. The goal was to identify barriers to optimal service delivery, remove obstacles faced by employees in fulfilling their functions, and improve the quality of their work.

The objective of the current study was to assess the needs of the immigrants a year and a half after their arrival, i.e., to evaluate their integration in a range of areas of life and their integration and acclimatization outcomes.

The objectives of the survey are to provide an up-to-date report about the extent of domestic violence against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas War, and about the unique risk factors associated with the current crisis. The survey findings can later be used to identify population groups at increased risk, and to provide suitable interventions.

The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Outcomes Team has been commissioned by the Out-of-Home Care, Family, Children, Youth and Special Placement Division of the Ministry of Welfare to help develop tools for the residential care facilities under its supervision: tools for assessing the child’s situation, formulating individual programs, monitoring interventions, and measuring the degree to which the desirable outcomes have been achieved – all within the ministry’s computerized client file (CCF) system. The team has also been commissioned to help structure outputs and dedicated reports within the CCF system, to be used in the ongoing operations of all employees and managers in residential care facilities, their supervisors, and ministry staff. This presentation presents the process of planning and specifying the tools within the CCF system.

The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Outcomes Team has been commissioned by the Out-of-Home Care, Family, Children, Youth and Special Placement Division of the Ministry of Welfare to help develop tools for conducting evaluations and planning interventions for children, Monitoring the outputs and the achievement of outcomes; Conducting a measurement pilot to examine the degree to which the tools developed serve their purpose, before their implementation on a regular basis ;and Supporting the implementation of outcome-based thinking in the unit’s routing operations.

On October 7, 2023, the Hamas terrorist organization launched a surprise attack on the communities bordering on the Gaza Strip that led Israel to declare war on Hamas. Immediately after the outbreak of the war, the Out-of-Home Care, Family, Children, Youth and Special Placement Division of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs began assessing the needs of the residential facilities under its responsibility. A month after the outbreak of the war, the Ministry decided to examine the status of the adolescents in these facilities with the residents themselves, to assess their unique needs in light of the terror attack and ongoing hostilities, as well as to convey a message of caring and partnership by professionals and administrators in the residential facilities and the Ministry. Therefore, the Ministry commissioned the Myers-Joint-Brookdale Institute to conduct a survey of all adolescents in residential care facilities supervised by the Ministry.

This review was written to provide stakeholders with an up-to-date status report, in real time, on children and youth during the war and the risks they face in all aspects of their lives. Apart from children who were directly exposed to the war or have been evacuated from their homes, the focus of the document is on the effects on all children and youth in Israel, whatever their proximity to the events.

The National Program made the following requests to the Outcomes Team at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute: To assist the National Program in developing tools to accomplish the following: (a) Evaluation and intervention planning for the centers’ clients; monitoring of the Program’s outputs (activities and strategies included in the Program); and measuring the achievement of goals; (b) monitoring of the characteristics, needs, strengths and previous interventions of the centers’ clients. The tools will serve as the foundation for building a computerized system to be used by the social workers in the field in order to plan interventions, document the course of treatment and measure the outcomes of other long-term programs that operate within the framework of the National Program. In addition, the tools will assist the headquarters staff in deciding on policy and work methods. To carry out a pilot measurement study to determine the extent to which the tools indeed achieve their goals, prior to their being put into regular use as measurement tools, as well as gathering preliminary information on the clients’ characteristics, needs, previous interventions, and strengths and the degree to which results were achieved.

The goals of this study were: (1) to examine to what extent the Police Social Worker Program achieved the desired outcomes at the organizational level and to what extent organizational practices conducive to the ongoing work of the police social workers were applied – this, by developing a tool for organizational outcomes measurement; (2) to conduct a pilot to examine whether the developed tool served its end, prior to its use as an ongoing outcomes measurement tool.

The objectives of this research were: 1. Conduct in-depth analyses of the domestic violence phenomenon among specific population groups: Arabs, new immigrants, LGBTQs, and people with disabilities 2. Conduct advanced statistical analysis for an in-depth examination of the correlations between various types of domestic violence and their risk factors.

The goals of the research were : 1. Help the National Program management develop tools to enable (1) Ongoing follow-up on characteristics, needs, previous interventions and strengths of the Program clients; (2) Monitoring of the Program’s outputs and goal attainment; (3) Gathering of preliminary information about the Program clients. 2. Conduct an evaluation pilot to assess the degree to which the tools developed serve their purpose, prior to their implementation for ongoing evaluation.

The objective of the research was to: Help the National Program staff in developing tools that would enable ongoing monitoring of (a) the characteristics, needs, previous interventions, and strengths and resources of the clients in the PSW Program; and (b) the PSW Program’s outputs and outcomes. These in turn will be entered into a computerized system for continuous measurements of other short-term programs under the National Program. Conduct a measurement pilot to evaluate the adequacy of the tools developed for continuous measurement, prior to their implementation.

The goal of the study was to collect up-to-date, systematic data on the work of the counselors and the work patterns of the boarding school directors and professional staff with the counselors.

The goal of this research is to identify programmatic directions and recommend policy to improve the preparation of Ethiopian Israelis for military service, and thereby lead to improved quality of their service.