The Center for Research on Child Poverty and Neglect aims to develop research in the field in light of the scarce knowledge in the area of child neglect. The center emphasizes the importance of children's perspective as well as taking into account community-level impact.
The research center aims to gain a better understanding of child neglect, its implications for children, and the way different relevant environments cope with it, by combining various angles; from evaluating localities’ and communities’ characteristics associated with child neglect prevalence to collecting children’s perspectives on what is child neglect in the context of their communities. Gaining an understanding regarding the interplay between localities services and community characteristics to the way child neglect is manifested in the area might allow a novel insight into the unstudied phenomena of child neglect. At the same time, understanding and developing the appropriate terminology of child neglect from children’s points of view might support, for the first time, the development of a theoretical and methodological framework for measuring child neglect.
Dr. Daphna Gross-Manos - researcher, head of the center
mail: [email protected]
Dr. Ayala Cohen - researcher
mail: [email protected]
Dr. Noha Gaber Bader - research fellow
mail: [email protected]
Dr. Daphna Gross-Manos, Dr. Ibtisam Marey-Sarwan, Dr. Eran Melckman
Child neglect definition is elusive and under constant discussion, as in many cases, professionals, and people in the community define it differently. The definition's elusiveness is one of the reasons child neglect research is limited compared to other abuses, despite the fact it is the most common type of child maltreatment. The study conducted focus groups with teachers, student prospective teachers, and pupils to understand their perspectives on child neglect.
Dr. Daphna Gross-Manos, Dr. Ayala Cohen, Dr, Noha Gaber Bader
As part of this study, we intend to examine the effectiveness of a short-term pilot home visits program provided on a universal basis for postnatal families.
The study will implement and evaluate a pilot program to prevent child neglect as well as other risks in children. The goals of the program are: (1) contacting parents to empower parental skills and child development; (2) connecting parents to community services according to family needs; (3) promoting family functioning and stability in terms of social relations and socioeconomic status. The pilot will first gather a steering committee of organizations, stakeholders, and leadership from within the city. Later a volunteer recruitment process will begin and training will be provided with the support of Haruv institute. Once enough volunteers are recruited, the overall goal will be to offer the intervention to every child born in the city. The program will be evaluated using a randomized control study, during which half the families will receive the intervention and half will not. The assessment will be carried out one month from birth and one year later.
The association between children’s reported access to food and their subjective well-being: A cross-national perspective
Food insecurity is a major global concern among both economically developed and developing countries, raising issues around the physical and mental health of adults and children. Several studies have shown an association between childhood food insecurity and poor mental health, but only a limited number of studies have explored the association with positive well-being indicators like subjective well-being examined from a cross-national perspective. The current study aims to fill this gap using data from the third wave of the Children’s Worlds Survey, focusing on the sample of 48,000 10-year-old children from 34 countries. We found that even occasional limited access to food is associated with lower subjective well-being in all types of measures and that it is quite widespread, also in economically developed countries. Our multilevel analysis shows that access to food affects subjective well-being beyond the effect of economic status and that the strength of the association varies across countries.
Marey-Sarwan, I., Gross-Manos, D. & Cohen. A. (2023). “I prefer to live poor, only on bread, but with love”: Arab youth perspectives on neglect”. Child Indicator Research,
Gross-Manos, D. Marey-Sarwan, I., Brnea, O. & Cohen. A. (2023). “Care about us first”: Israeli youth perspectives on child neglect. Journal of interpersonal violence,
Gross-Manos, D., Cohen. A. & Bader, N. (2023). Short-Term Home Visiting Programs After Birth: An Overview and a New Pilot for an Infants' Risks Prevention Program Based on Volunteers, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Gross-Manos, D. & Ben Arieh, A. (2022). The Role of Subjective Poverty in the Association Between Material Deprivation and Subjective Well-Being Among Fourth and Sixth Grade Children in Israel. Magazine Security and Social Sciences, 1-20.
Gross-Manos, D., & Cohen. A. (In 2021). Community-level intervention for child maltreatment: Why are they missing? In Maguire-Jack, K. and Katz, C. Takes a Village: The Evolution of Neighborhoods and Implications for Child Maltreatment. Dordrecht: Springer.
Gross-Manos, D., & Bradshaw, J. (2021). The Association Between the Material Well-being and the Subjective Well-being of Children in 35 countries. Child Indicator Research Journal.
Gross-Manos, D., Cohen, A., & Korbin, J. E. (2020). Community Change Programs for Children and Youth At-Risk: A Review of Lessons Learned. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 23(1),20-35.