Haruv Institute – Building a Safe World for Children

A national and international center for training, knowledge development and innovation dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect.

Our Vision

The Haruv Institute is a non-profit organization founded by the Schusterman Family Foundation, that has been working since 2007 to promote a world in which every child has the right to live in safety and dignity – free from violence and neglect. A safe and supportive environment enables child development and well-being and protects children from harm.

The Haruv Institute is a national and international center for training, knowledge development and innovation dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect. The Institute leads professional and systemic changes by connecting research, policy and practice. It strives to strengthen the ability of systems and professionals working with children to act in a consistent, coordinated and trauma-aware manner, so that children at risk or who have experienced harm, are identified as early as possible and receive the best, continuous, knowledge-based intervention.

The four lenses of knowledge that guide action

1. Children’s rights: Emphasizing that every child is a subject with rights, voice, and agency, and integrating this concept into child-oriented systems.
2. Trauma: Working with a trauma-informed approach that recognizes the short- term and long-term effects of the experience of abuse and neglect on children’s development, functioning, and relationships and on the professionals’ encounters with them.
3. Child development: Adapting interventions and care to the age, developmental stage, and unique needs of each child.
4. Ecological perspective: A multidimensional view of each child, their sources of support and belonging alongside the circles of vulnerability and resilience in all contexts – family, community, and broader systems – of their life.

What are we doing to realize our vision?

• Training professionals – Courses, seminars, workshops and in-depth training for professionals working with children.
• Developing and disseminating professional up-to-date knowledge, ensuring accessibility through various platforms.
• Connecting professionals, systems and organizations – Enhancing partnerships between professionals, organizations and systems working with children in Israel and worldwide.
• Leading innovation – Developing tools, models, protocols and work methodologies to improve intervention and care for children and families.
• Acting in the international arena – Developing knowledge, knowledge exchange and partnerships with leading bodies worldwide in the field of child protection.

Areas of Knowledge

Training

The Institute develops and operates a wide range of training programs for professionals in the fields of education, welfare, health, therapy, law, and community. The training combines up-to-date theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice, and is tailored to diverse target audiences, organizations, and systems working with children.

The training takes place through various learning platforms: long-term courses, seminars, workshops, lectures, series of online meetings, and in-depth training in collaboration with government ministries, local authorities, academic institutions, and field organizations.

The training revolves around principles of professional excellence, up-to-date knowledge, applied learning, and adaptation to the changing needs of both professionals and the children and families they work with. Training is provided by leading lecturers and experts from Israel and abroad.

Professional knowledge development, accessibility and dissemination

Through a variety of knowledge products, including studies, journals, guides, podcasts and digital content, we connect academic knowledge with hands-on practice. Our goal is to ensure that relevant up-to-date, research-based knowledge is available to professionals to help improve interventions for children and families.

Innovation

The Haruv Institute promotes innovation in the field of child protection by developing advanced training, digital tools, simulations, new protocols and work methodologies, models for multidisciplinary work, and processes that integrate academic knowledge and practical needs.

Innovation at the Haruv Institute is designed to help professionals deal with changing and complex challenges, improve the quality of interventions provided to children and families, and advance professional, coordinated and trauma-aware work.

Partnerships

The Haruv Institute works in collaboration with government ministries, local authorities, academic institutions, civil society organizations, on-site professionals and international partners. These partnerships make it possible to develop knowledge, expand training, promote research, influence policymaking and create interventions tailored to the needs emerging from the field.

The Haruv Institute sees multidisciplinary and inter-systemic work as a prerequisite for improving child protection. Therefore, a significant part of its activity is dedicated to connecting professionals, systems and organizations working with children, to promote a common professional language, a continuum of interventions and effective partnerships.

International activity

Haruv fosters global connections and partnerships in research, training, and knowledge exchange. Key partners include ISPCAN, the Kempe Center, and the Center for Children’s Rights at Goethe University in Frankfurt.

Our target audience:

• Therapists
• Social workers
• Formal and informal education teams
• Health professionals
• Community volunteers
• Legal professionals
• Medical and nursing professionals

The Haruv Institute disseminates and ensures the accessibility of its professional content through a variety of digital channels.

The Institute’s publications include:

• The journal Nekudat Mifgash (Meeting Point) – Hebrew
• The international journal The International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice

The Haruv Institute, since 2007

Our address:

Haruv Institute

The Hebrew University, Mount Scopus

Jerusalem 9765418