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Bryson, L., Lazzarini, V. and Winter, I . An Australian Newtown revisted: employment change and family poverty, 1966 and 1991.
The pioneering study of Newtown in 1966, reported in 'An Australian Newtown: Life and Leadership in a Working Class Suburb' (Bryson and Thompson 1972), was conducted in a time of economic growth, collective agreement about the role of the welfare state, and established demographic patterns. The current 'revist' embraces a broad spectrum of aspects of life in the suburb, as did the earlier study, yet with patterns of continuity and change being explored within a context of global economic restructuring, significant changes in the supportive role of the state, and processes of demographic change. This article concentrates mainly on change and continuity in employment and the industrial nexus of the suburb. Developing an understanding of Newtown's changing labour market, provides an understanding of how the living standards of Newtown's working class families have changed between 1966 and 1991.
Burbidge, A. and Winter, I . As safe as houses - or a house of cards? The real costs and benefits of home ownership.
In such uncertain times are there circumstances where home ownership brings financial loss rather than gain? If some families lose by becoming home owners, could measures to boost home ownership actually be increasing economic and social inequality? These are questions that have attracted much sociological and economic debate since the late 1960s. In this article data collected by the Australian Institute of Family Studies in its Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) is used to examine first, the extent of financial advantages available to home owners and, second, which areas had the greatest gains and losses. In so doing the authors assess whether popular assumptions about the economic rewards of home ownership are accurate in the era ushered in by the deregulation of housing finance. The four ALSS areas analysed for this article are in metropolitan Melbourne: inner Melbourne, Box Hill, Berwick and Werribee. Issues addressed include capital gains and housing benefits and locational differences in housing benefits and losses.
de Vaus, D . The Australian Living Standards Study: a brief overview.
From 1991 until late 1994 the Australian Institute of Family Studies undertook a major, innovative study of the living standards of Australian Families - the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS). This article presents an overview of the goals of the research, its methodology and data sets. The author also reports on the issues addressed in a number of articles drawing on ALSS data appearing in this issue of Family Matters. Issues addressed include: child care, medical services, children's safety, housing, and family problems and service provision.
de Vaus, D. and Wise, S . The fear of attack: parents' concerns for the safety of their children.
This article describes the concern that parents have about their children being victims of assault if left unsupervised in public. It examines how widespread these concerns are and whether children are also afraid of being attacked. It looks at whether parents are more worried for their daughters than their sons, and whether their concerns decline as children get older. It discusses whether certain types of parents are more worried than others about the safety of their children - for example, do city parents have a greater sense of danger than parents living in rural areas, and do low income families and families from non-English-speaking backgrounds have a greater sense of vulnerability about their children than other families? The data are drawn from the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) conducted in 12 localities throughout Australia. Parents answered questions about each of their children living in the household.
Funder, K . Simplified procedures for settling the affairs of divorcing couples: new measures introduced in the Family Court.
In January 1996 the Family Court of Australia announced new, simplified procedures for the negotiation of issues regarding the parenting of children and the settlement of finances. The changes are designed to suit the 95 per cent of divorcing couples who do not end up in Court before a judge, but who by and large work out any disputes in less litigious ways. To achieve the goals of self-managed resolution of disputes and problems, divorcing couples will be assisted by alternative dispute resolution services (counselling, mediation and conciliation) at various points in the process towards settlement. They will be assisted by the introduction of short, plain-language forms that most people can fill in by hand without legal assistance. The author views these changes in the context of the history of the Family Law Act and recommends that their effectiveness and possible unintended effects are evaluated.
Kilmartin, C . Local differences in problems for families: views of providers and parents.
As part of the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) of 5000 families in 12 rural and urban areas of Australia, the Institute conducted a survey of 1100 service providers from the spheres of children's services, community services, education, employment, health, housing, leisure and recreation, safety and security, transport, and youth and amenity services. The survey covered a host of issues associated with living standards and the contribution that service provision makes to family wellbeing. In one of many questions, service providers and families were presented with a list of selected problems that families in their neighbourhoods might face and asked to rate their importance as issues in the local area. The author looks at whether views about problems facing families differ across regions, whether the views of service providers are shared by families, and how both providers and parents rank isolation as a problem for families. In a box inset within the main article titled 'Local factors contributing to living standards: service providers' views', the author presents the responses of service providers regarding which issues are important to their areas as far as the provision of service are concerned. These issues include: the absence of important facilities, high cost of living, high cost of travel to work, and high number of Aboriginal residents.
Kilmartin, C. Local factors contributing to living standards.
As part of the Australian Living Standards Study, the Institute conducted a survey of 1100 service providers from the spheres of children's services, community services, education, employment, health, housing, leisure and recreation, safety and security, transport, and youth and amenity services. This article summarises responses of service providers in outer urban, middle urban, inner urban and rural / remote areas regarding which issues are important to their areas. Responses about availability of services and facilities, cost of living, and service delivery to particular groups are highlighted.
Malin, M., Campbell, K. and Agius, L . Raising children in the Nunga Aboriginal way.
This article compares the child rearing practices of a Nunga (Aboriginal) family with a Anglo-Saxon family. The differences in child rearing practices are encapsulated in what happened at a picnic outing attended by Dorothy, a Nunga mother and her children, and Ann, an Anglo-Saxon mother and her children. The article is drawn from a larger comparative, ethnographic study examining the implications of different ways of child rearing for children as they adapt to life in classrooms. In summary the Aboriginal children in Dorothy's family were encouraged to be independent, self-regulating and self-reliant. They were expected to look after their younger kin. Dorothy relied on some overt techniques for disciplining her children as well as indirect techniques such as selective attention, non-intervention, modelling and loaded conversation. In addition teasing and scaring were a means of helping the children to become emotionally resilient, in order to prepare them for the exploitation and racism that she anticipated they would encounter. The authors point out that Aboriginal child rearing practices are different from those of Anglo-Australians and are seen in a negative light by many non-Aboriginal authorities, often with devastating results.
McGurk, H . Director's report.
Following a report on new developments at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the author discusses the increasing pressure child protection services throughout Australia are being placed under. The numbers of confirmed cases of child abuse have increased over the last five years. There is not enough information, however, to determine whether the figures represent a real increase in the frequency of child abuse, or an increase in the willingness of professionals and others to report instances of suspected abuse, or a systematic lowering of the threshold for what we choose to interpret as maltreatment. The levels of reporting of child maltreatment in Australia and the United Kingdom are compared. Finally, the author considers the characteristics of effective child protection services. He suggests services should be based on assessment of family functioning and need rather than the investigation of alleged incidence of abuse. Furthermore, services should be multi-disciplinary and child protection and child welfare/family support services coordinated rather than separated.
Millward, C . Explaining patterns of urban child care.
This article identifies some factors that affect the type of work-related child care used by families for children under school age. The data are drawn from the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The analysis probes the relative importance of factors in determining the use of formal care rather than informal care and within household care. Formal care included family day care and long day care centres. Informal care included care by relatives, friends, neighbours or baby-sitters. Within household care was provided by people living in the child's own household. Because the sample was large and socio-demographically broad, it was possible to identify the sorts of factors influencing the type of work-related child care used by families. The analysis focuses on children of employed parents living in nine local government areas in three types of settings - inner urban, middle urban and outer urban. The areas covered are inner Melbourne, South Sydney, Box Hill, Ryde, Berwick, Werribee, Elizabeth/ Munno Para, Penrith and Campbelltown. Findings of the study concern: supply of formal child care places, types of child care used, and factors associated with choice of type of care, namely, parental background, proximity factors, employment commitments, and family income and expenditure. Tables summarising satisfaction with preschool work-related child care, and reasons for using formal or informal preschool work-related care are presented and discussed.
Sandor, D . Joint adoption by same sex spouses in Canada.
In this brief article, the author explains that the Ontario Court of Justice has expanded the meaning of 'spouses' for the purposes of adoption applications to include same sex couples in a conjugal relationship.
Sandor, D . Paying for the promise of co-parenting: a case of child maintenance in disguise?
The author analyses a recent decision of the New South Wales Supreme Court where a mother of two children received over $150,000 compensation from her partner because the partner broke a promise to provide financial support for the children. Both parties are women who had been living in a lesbian relationship. Issues addressed by the article include: the status of the other mother, the immunity of the sperm donor, the Child Support (Assessment) Act, and applications under the Family Law Act.
Soriano, G . Australian Living Standards Study: bibliography 1990-1996.
This article presents a bibliography of Australian Living Standards Study material produced to date by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. It comprises articles appearing in 'Family Matters', articles published in external publications, working papers, papers presented at conferences and seminars, and reports to federal and state government departments.
Weston, R. A free basic medical service for families most in need?
The success of Medicare in removing financial barriers to patients' access to basic medical care depends on whether or not families with pressing financial problems live in reasonable proximity to services that offer bulk billing. This raises the issue of whether residential location affects the chances of a free medical service for poor families. This article examines the level of success of Medicare in enabling low income families to receive free basic medical care. The analysis is based on data from the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. It focuses on reports of families in nine ALSS areas and in two rural areas - the Riverland and Roma/Bungil. The study found that Medicare discretionary system of fee setting failed to benefit low income families in the Riverland. In fact all families in the Riverland were unlikely to receive a free service. In some of the other areas a relatively high bulk billing rate applied to the socio-economically advantaged as well as the disadvantaged, while in other areas, low income families seemed more likely than other families to be bulk billed.
Weston, R. Bulk billing and the use of GP services.
Since the introduction of Medicare in early 1984, there has been an increase in both the proportion of all general practitioner (GP) services that are bulk billed and the number of GP visits made by patients. This has lead to a contentious debate about whether or not bulk billing encourages people to visit their doctor for trivial reasons. This analysis focuses on parents living in the nine urban areas of the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The article examines the relationship between frequency of parents' visits to their GP and residential location, payment arrangements (bulk billing or not), and other factors which may affect both service use and parents who visited their doctor more frequently or less frequently than their health status would appear to predict, and the factors linked with such high or low use.
Weston, R . How satisfield are parents with their doctor?
What are parents priorities about basic medical services and how do they feel about the services used? The author
analyses data from the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS)
conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies of families
in nine urban areas and in the Riverland and Roma/Bungil. Parents'
priorities in terms of basic medical services were the amount of
respect they received and how good their doctor was with children.
The findings show that families appeared to be very happy with most
aspects of their medical service.
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