The CRA is designed to further the scant existing knowledge regarding the predictors of success and outcomes of Aliyah in North American families. Immigration to Israel entails many challenges for a family. One segment of immigrants who are at particular risk for transition difficulties post-migration are children and adolescents. However, family adjustment to immigration is an understudied topic and is practically a non-existent subject of study in North American families immigrating to Israel.

The handful of studies on immigration to Israel primarily focuses on immigrants from the Former Soviet Union and from Ethiopia. These studies point to various academic, social, and emotional difficulties experienced by child and adolescent immigrants to Israel. However, the experience of North American immigrants to Israel differs in considerable ways from the experience of other immigrants to Israel. These unique characteristics of immigration from North America necessitate a careful examination how North American families adjust to moving to Israel.

In order to fill the existing gap in understanding how immigration to Israel impacts North American families, the CRA investigates the immigration process and adjustment of North American immigrants to Israel. We focus on the social, cultural, religious, financial, family, educational and individual aspects that may impact success. CRA's objective is to provide clear, scientific information about the optimal way to adapt to Aliyah. This data-based, empirical information will assist in offering a more accurate representation of the impact of Aliyah on families to counter common misconceptions and faulty anecdotes about the Aliyah process and results. The findings will assist families in making informed decisions about Aliyah and will help in developing clear guidelines and instructional material for families, schools, and agencies working on maximizing the Aliyah process.

For example, programs will be developed that can be included as part of the pre-immigration process. Similar to seminars about navigating the banks or insurance market in Israel, information from CRA will be used to generate a seminar for parents about how to enhance the Aliyah process for families. Beyond prevention, information from our studies will also be used in intervention models for organizations in Israel offering family-based services for new immigrants. Finally, our findings will be used to develop a training module for mental health professionals seeking to become Aliyah sensitive practitioners.