Family Matters articles from December 1999

Family Matters archives from December 1999

Acting Director's Report.
December 22, 1999... I have been appointed as Acting Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies by the Minister for Family and Community Services, Senator Jocelyn Newman, pending the appointment of a permanent Director. Prior to my appointment at the...

Strengthening and supporting Australian families.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... The Government's direction for a new National Families Strategy The Minister for Family and Community Services, Senator Jocelyn Newman, announced in the 1999-2000 Budget that the Commonwealth would work with the States and Territories,...

The Australian Institute of Family Studies and the new National Families Strategy.
December 22, 1999... Recognising that strong families are the cornerstone of a strong and vibrant civil society, the new National Families Strategy has committed the Commonwealth Government to working closely with the State and Territory governments, as well as...

Strong families around the world.
December 22, 1999... If researchers study only family problems, they are likely to find only family problems. Similarly, if educators, community organisers, therapists and researchers are interested in family strengths, they look for them. When these strengths are...

Family forms -- family wellbeing.(Statistical Data Included)
December 22, 1999... The different pathways parents take after divorce have resulted in diverse family forms, each with special needs that may call for different strategies to strengthen family life and prevent further breakdown. Drawing on data from the...

Strong families and satisfying marriages.
December 22, 1999... As background to a major new study of Positive Marriage and Family Relationships, conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, this article presents a review of the literature describing positive marital and family characteristics...

Shaping families.(attitudes of young women toward contraception, Australia)
December 22, 1999... WOMEN, CONTROL AND CONTRACEPTION "I consider the oral contraceptive pill to be the one discovery which has brought about the most change in society. Control by women has changed it all." These are the words of one of the young women in...

Repartnering following relationship breakdown.
December 22, 1999... At some point following the breakdown of a marriage or long-term de facto relationship, the issue of whether or not to embark on another partnership is bound to arise. What factors are likely to influence men and women in their decision to...

Welcome changes in family studies.
December 22, 1999... COMMENT On 18 March 1999, a seminar was held at the Australian Institute of Family Studies on some issues at the interface of family and education. Dr Shirley Sampson spoke on the need for education for family life and Dr Moira Eastman on...

Strengthening family and marriage stability.
December 22, 1999... Reflection on 20 years research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies reveals a body of data from the examination of research questions which is extremely well authenticated, and which provides an illuminating adjunct to understanding...

What is a fair divorce settlement?
December 22, 1999... OPINION The Attorney-General's department is currently considering proposed changes to the rules governing property settlement in divorce. This is a highly contentious area of the Family Law Act, and in this essay Peter Saunders sets out...

New legislative initiatives.(family law, Australia)
December 22, 1999... The Family Law Act has now been in operation for 23 years. Some parts of it have been substantially revised, others remain relatively unchanged, but the net effect is a much lengthier and more complex statute than that which became law in...

Binding pre-marital agreements Will they help?
December 22, 1999... In Australia, unlike most other countries, financial agreements entered into before marriage (pre-marital agreements) are not legally effective on divorce. The Federal Government proposes to change this situation, but will binding agreements...

LETTERS.(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 1999... We are pleased to publish readers' views in this inaugural letters column. Three topics in particular seemed to interest readers: the debate between Richard Eckersley and Institute Research Manager Peter Saunders about what constitutes...

Families in the news.
December 22, 1999... Everybody is interested in families. When the Australian Institute of Family Studies publishes research on some aspect of family life, the media tend to pay attention, for family news has a high `public interest' factor. What, then, has caught...

Costs of Children in Australia.(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... There are two important differences between results obtained by using the basket-of-goods method and the expenditure survey method as presented in the accompanying Tables. First, the basket-of-goods approach provides only part of the cost of a...

Budget Standards and the Costs of Children.(Statistical Data Included)
December 22, 1999... The costs of children is a topic of widespread community interest among policy makers and those involved in a broad range of public programs and family welfare issues. It is also of immediate interest to parents, who have to bear the bulk of...

Costs of children in Australian households.(Statistical Data Included)
December 22, 1999... New estimates from the ABS Household Expenditure Survey A sign on a Melbourne shop says `I can imagine a life without children but it wouldn't have as much laughter!'. This aptly summarises how most people feel about children. Indeed,...

Older workers, families and public policies.
December 22, 1999... The employment decisions and family situation of older workers are increasingly important as public policy discussions address issues of balance between individual, family and government provision of caring for the elderly and income support in...

Strong families across the life course.
December 22, 1999... The following references have been selected from the Australian Family & Society Abstracts database, produced by the Australian Institute of Family Studies to monitor the research, policy and practice literature on family and social issues. ...

Community-based approaches in preventing child maltreatment.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... In the latest Issues Paper produced by the National Child Protection Clearinghouse, based at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, Adam Tomison and Sarah Wise provide a detailed assessment of current community-based strategies aimed at...

BECOME PART OF THE CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION NETWORK!(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... The National Child Protection Clearinghouse at the Australian Institute of Family Studies serves as an interchange point for information, research and initiatives in the child abuse prevention field. It collects and distributes information, and...

Program evaluation workshop.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... A key selection criterion for most funding bodies is that an adequate evaluation component is incorporated into any program applying for funding. Program evaluation provides a vehicle for quality assurance, the ongoing improvement and...

NATIONAL AUDIT OF PREVENTION ACTIVITIES.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... As part of a strategy to reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect throughout Australia, the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services is funding the National Child Protection Clearinghouse to carry out a national audit of...

NEW ON THE AIFS WEB SITE www.aifs.org.au/.(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... Australia is one of the top ten countries for Internet use, making the World Wide Web an effective medium to disseminate research and policy information on Australian family issues. This column reports new features on the Australian...

STRENGTHENING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS.
December 22, 1999... Australia is one of the top ten countries for Internet use, making the World Wide Web an effective medium to disseminate research and policy information on Australian family issues. This column reports new features on the Australian...

ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIPS AND WELLBEING STUDY.
December 22, 1999... FAMILIES NEEDED The Australian Institute of Family Studies and the University of Queensland in conjunction with the Family Court of Australia are seeking assistance in a study concerning adolescent relationships and wellbeing. The study is...

A Long Way From Home Family Homelessness in the Current Welfare Context.(Review)
December 22, 1999... A Long Way From Home Family Homelessness in the Current Welfare Context by Terry Bartholemew Deakin University Press, 1999, 170 pp. A Long Way From Home explores the extent of family homelessness in Victoria and the plight of families who...

A Circle Unbroken The Hidden Emotional Patterns That Shape Our Lives.(Review)
December 22, 1999... A Circle Unbroken The Hidden Emotional Patterns That Shape Our Lives Hugh Crago Allen & Unwin, 1999, 214pp, $24.95pb. Once in a while from among the books classified in the self help/psychology category comes a book that offers hope for...

Fathers, Work and Family Life.(Review)
December 22, 1999... Fathers, Work and Family Life, by Jo Warin, Yvette Solomon, Charlie Lewis and Wendy Langford, Family Policy Studies Centre, London, 1999. Price: UK10.95. This study examines the impact of work patterns on family relationships, especially...

Only Child: A Provocative Analysis of the Impact of Being an Only Child.(Review)
December 22, 1999... Only Child: A Provocative Analysis of the Impact of Being an Only Child, by Miriam Cosic, Landsdowne, Sydney, 1999. Price: $19.95. Does being an only child make any difference to the way a child interacts with the world? This is the major...

Transforming Children's Lives: The Importance of Early Intervention.(Review)
December 22, 1999... Transforming Children's Lives: The Importance of Early Intervention, Edited by Rosalind Bayley, Family Policy Studies Centre, London, 1999. Price: UK9.95. This book contains the edited proceedings of a conference on families and early...

Video -- Patents' First Steps: Surviving the First Weeks Following Childbirth.(Review)
December 22, 1999... Video -- Patents' First Steps: Surviving the First Weeks Following Childbirth, Mercy Hospital for Women, East Melbourne, 1999. Price: $29.95. This practical resource, consisting of a 40-minute video and accompanying booklet, looks at the...

What's in a Name? Definitions and Domestic Violence.(Review)
December 22, 1999... What's in a Name? Definitions and Domestic Violence, by Helen MacDonald, Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre, Brunswick, 1998. Price: $12.00. While the term `domestic violence' has been in common usage for many years, little...

Secondary School Curriculum Materials.(Review)
December 22, 1999... Secondary School Curriculum Materials Curriculum Corporation, Carlton South. The Curriculum Corporation has produced a collection of four curriculum materials on family-related topics designed for students in the lower to middle secondary...

Australian Social Trends 1999.(Review)
December 22, 1999... Australian Social Trends 1999 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, 1999. Price: $40.00. The Australian Bureau of Statistics publication Australian Social Trends has over the past five years proven itself to be an indispensable...

Superannuation and divorce.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... Based on data from the Institute's major study -- the Australian Divorce Transitions Project -- this Working Paper examines the superannuation assets of divorcing couples. The paper concentrates in particular on the growing importance of...

Later life families.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... Working Paper No. 19 examines meanings and expectations of family life and support for people aged 50 to 70, focusing on social relations between generations. Age cohorts and family life stage are not synchronous, so this age group represents a...

Understanding the reasons for divorce.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... The personal, family and community consequences and costs of high rates of marriage breakdown and divorce have focused national attention on developing policies and strategies to prevent family breakdown. Among the most frequently asked...

Family Matters 1999.(Brief Article)
December 22, 1999... It's not too late to subscribe to Family Matters for 1999. New subscribers receive immediately the Autumn and Winter editions. In 1999 readers can look forward to special feature articles on ageing in Australia to mark the International Year of...