In November 2012, the Minister for Family and Community Services, Pru Goward MP, released a discussion paper containing child protection legislative reform proposals. The reform proposals are in three parts: (1) promoting good parenting; (2) providing a safe and stable home for children and young people in care; (3) and creating a child-centred system. This...

Can insights from the field of community capacity-building improve child welfare practice and policy in Australia? This paper explores this question by outlining the concept of community capacity, and uses real-life examples to illustrate the ways in which service providers might apply community capacity-building approaches in their work with children and families. Key findings: It...

This paper presents the results of a qualitative research project aimed to better understand the key elements of promising bicultural practice in the Northern Territory children and families sector.

Recent government approaches to childcare funding have been simple rather than innovative. Improvements in affordability have been short lived, with benefits quickly absorbed through higher costs charged to families. The result is an ongoing game of catch up between government and service providers with families stuck in the middle. Since 2001, the proportion of Australian...

In February 2012, a report by the Senate Community Affairs References Committee recommended that the federal parliament issue a formal statement of apology for the role the Commonwealth played in the routine adoption of the babies of unwed (mostly teenage) mothers by childless married couples between the 1950s and mid-1970s. The Gillard government subsequently announced...