Youth Aliyah Conclave in Israel Plans Permanent Body of Child Care Experts

Hadassah officials attending a two-week international conference here to evaluate the experiences of the Youth Aliyah movement said today that a permanent research committee of leading social scientists was expected to be one of the achievements of the gathering. The committee is expected to be comprised of experts in education, social welfare, psychiatry, psychology and sociology. The conference, which began June 1, is being sponsored by Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, and the Youth Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency. The officials said the work of the planned committee would benefit Youth Aliyah and its educational programs and would be of great help to social scientists in other countries seeking ways to deal with problems of youth in complex societies.

Conference participants are studying data on children who have experienced the ravages of war, persecution and deprivation and information on peer-group care for Youth Aliyah children. Mrs. High Salpeter, Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah chairman, is the organization’s official representative at the conference. The conference participants, who were invited on the basis of their interest in the theoretical and practical aspects of child group care, are reviewing the history of the movement, examining its functions and philosophy and assessing its goals and procedures. They are scheduled to make on the spot observations of Youth Aliyah installations in Israel.

Scholars are attending from the United States, Britain and Canada. Educators and social scientists from the Hebrew and Tel Aviv universities and also from the Youth Aliyah movement are among the participating experts. Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, the movement has received international recognition for pioneering methods of group child care to salvage emotionally scarred children of the World War II and postwar upheavals.