All of the papers from this seminar, held in mid-2006, are now available online. Speakers were Suzanne Bianchi, Lyn Craig, Leonie Bloomfeild, Julie Smith and Mark Ellwood, Trish Hill, Janeen Baxter and Duncan Ironmonger.

The poor socio-economic outcomes of women who have their first child when young are well documented, but the policy implications depend on the causal mechanisms that underlie it. This paper examines this issue using a new Australian panel of young women. No evidence is found for an adverse impact of young childbirth on education, labour...

The early intervention program is a voluntary program for low to medium risk families encountering problems that impact on their ability to care for their children. The purpose of this evaluation is to examine the effectiveness of the program in achieving its stated objectives and assess whether it represents a good investment of public funds...

Young mothers, and by extension their children, are one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups in Australian society. Around 9 in 10 teenage mothers are receiving income support payments, and they go on to have much lower family incomes in middle age. Are these patterns a direct impact of having their first child when young...

Kristy Muir, Ann Dadich, David Abelló, Michael Bleasdale, Alan Morris and Karen Fisher present the summary findings of the second phase of a longitudinal evaluation of the Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative Stage One from May to October 2005. They find that outcomes continued to improve for the majority of clients.