Parenting Council Research Clearinghouse: Library "F"
Facilitating Fertility and Paid Work - Contemporary Family-Friendly Policy Initiatives and their Social Impacts in Australasia
Author:
Joanne James
Date:
2009
Published by:
Ministry of Social Development: Social Policy Journal of New Zealand
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
This paper focuses on contemporary public perceptions of the challenges of combining paid work and raising a family, set against the backdrop of concerns about low fertility, structural population ageing and the composition of the future labour force. Australasian policy makers have responded to these issues with various initiatives aimed at assisting people who are raising families and engaging in paid work. The New Zealand Working for Families package, the Australian Family Tax Benefit package, and the two countries' parental leave and women-focused policies are compared, with a focus on cross-national similarities and differences. The most significant difference between the two nations is the lack of a paid parental leave scheme in Australia, but the family-friendly policies are similar in perpetuating tensions between ensuring both present and future labour supply. The policies are aimed at providing incentives to be in paid work when parents have children, but tend to reinforce the notion of work and family as separate spheres, and potentially contribute to social divisions between parents and non-parents by providing cash benefits to families with children. This analysis suggests that Australasian societies may be on the cusp of a more collective articulation of people's obligations to one another and the nation, including the collective consequences of personal lifestyle decisions such as choosing not to have children
Ian Evans, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Juliana Raskauskas and Shane Harvey
Date:
2007
Published by:
Families Commission
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
Fairness is an easily recognised property of everyday interactions among family members. All parents will have heard their children complain that something is “just not fair!” Children are clearly sensitive to experiences of unfairness and react to them with negative emotions such as anger and sadness. It is possible – though not yet well-established – that repeated experiences of unfairness, particularly unfair punishment and unfair lack of deserved reward, may make children hostile and less likely to forgive.
Primary schools from a variety of socio-economic regions in the central North Island of New Zealand agreed to be involved in supporting this research, provide time and space and circulate an invitation to families to participate. The participants selected for the study were 82 children in Year 4 (9-year-olds) and Year 6 (11-year-olds) of primary school, whose parents had consented to their involvement in the research. In addition, 53 of the parents of these children agreed to participate as well.
Families and Heavy Drinking: Impacts on Parenting and Children's Wellbeing
Authors:
Melissa Girling, John Huakau, Sally Casswell and Kim Conway
Date:
2006
Published by:
Families Commission
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
The impact of heavy parental caregiver alcohol use on children and young people is a social issue that urgently requires further research and public debate. This review aims to identify and review the current research literature about the impacts of heavy parental alcohol use on children.
Families with Dependent Children: Successful Outcomes Project
Author:
Robyn Seth-Purdie, Andrew Cameron, Francis Luketina
Date:
2006
Published by:
Families Commission
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
This report reflects the views of the almost 4,000 people who responded to the consultation campaign What Makes Your Family Tick? or took part in a series of focus groups.
An extensive body of research evidence indicates that family functioning and circumstances significantly affect the life chances of individual family members, and the successful functioning of society and the economy. However, findings from the Commission’s major research projects suggest that the importance of the family is not always reflected in public policies and services. Little consideration is given to the wellbeing of the entity itself over and above the wellbeing of individual members or population groups.
The Commission is currently working with the local government sector on an initiative to encourage councils to take a family-centred approach to planning and decision-making. This literature review has been produced as a resource for this project. The Families Commission’s understanding of the issues discussed in this report will grow as the project progresses, and the Commission will consider reporting on this later in the project. Meanwhile, the Commission feels that this report is a useful resource for ourselves and others, and for that reason, we have placed it on our website.
The report is based on a review of key published papers and reports. It is not intended to be a fully comprehensive review of the literature.
"Family Ethnicity": Knitting a Jumper Using Two Woolly Concepts
Authors:
Paul Callister, Robert Didham, Jamie Newell and Deborah Potter
Date:
2007
Published by:
Ministry of Social Development: Social Policy Journal of New Zealand
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
While ethnicity, as collected in surveys in New Zealand, is a personal attribute not a group measure, there is some demand from the policy community and researchers for measures of family ethnicity. Yet both ethnicity and family are "woolly" concepts. The paper explores the uses made of ethnic family measures in research and policy making in New Zealand and, based on census data, explores a range of possible classification systems. The diversity of individual ethnic affiliations within New Zealand families leads us to suggest that measures of family ethnicity that incorporate the responses of all individuals are likely to be more suitable for informing research and policy than those that lead to an artificial simplification of ethnic responses.
Family Membership in Post-Reunion Adoption Narratives
Author:
Julee Browning and Grant
Duncan
Date:
2005
Published by:
Ministry of Social Development: Social Policy Journal of New Zealand
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
This article reports original research conducted with 20 adoptees, adopted under closed-stranger protocols, who have been experiencing regular post-reunion contact with their birth families for more than 10 years.
Family Resilience and Good Child Outcomes: An Overview of the Research Literature
Author:
Ross Mackay
Date:
2003
Published by:
Ministry of Social Development
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
A review of the international research literature on family resilience shows that processes that operate at the family level – including strong emotional bonds, effective patterns of communication, the use of coping strategies and family belief systems, especially those based on spiritual or religious values – are important means by which families manage to cope with adversity. Positive parenting is a key influence on children’s development, especially in adverse financial circumstances. Wider family involvement can also assist families to cope with stress. In particular, non-resident fathers and other father figures have an important role to play in promoting the development of children in lone-mother families, while the burden of teenage parenthood can be eased by multi-generational co-residence. On the question of whether it is possible to inculcate resilience in families, evidence from a range of recent evaluations of selected intervention programmes shows that approaches that work best are those that involve early intervention, that are sensitive to families’ cultures and values and that assist in relieving families’ ecological stresses.
Family Start Outcome / impact evaluation : Final report
Author:
Commissioned and managed by Centre of Social Research and Evaluation - Ministry of Social Development
Date:
2005
Published by:
Ministry of Social Development
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
Family Start is a key component in an early intervention approach. International evidence shows that high intensity, home-based early intervention programmes are able to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families. By providing such an intensive targeted home visiting service to families with the highest needs, Family Start can make an important contribution to early intervention with vulnerable children.
The reader should note that limitations to the Outcome / Impact Evaluation methodology constrain the types of conclusions that we can draw about the impact of the Family Start programme.
Family structure, child outcomes and environmental mediators: an overview of the Development in Diverse Families Study
Author:
Wise, S
Date:
2002
Published by:
Australian Institute of Family Studies
Location:
Australia
Abstract:
This Research Paper describes a new Institute study that aims to enhance understanding about how family structure relates to the development of children. It examines outcomes for children in different family types and in relation to factors internal and external to the family. The relevant theoretical and empirical literature and the policy context that together form the background to the study, as well as the details of the research approach are described.
This paper addresses the questions "what is family?" and "what is wellbeing?". By identifying the functions and practices of families, we can then move toward an examination of wellbeing as it is linked to those aspects of families.
Do working fathers think they have enough time to spend with their children? Kelly Hand and Virginia Lewis talk with Australian fathers about their work and family responsibilities.
Finding Time - Parents' long working hours and impact on family life
Date:
2009
Published by:
Families Commission
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
Finding Time focuses on the experiences of a range of families selected from industries that are most affected by long working hours.
The study is a companion to broader research done by the Commission and the Department of Labour last year which used Census data to find that those in management, agriculture and road transport and those on low incomes often work more than 50 hours a week.
Focus on Families: New Zealand Families of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Author:
Jo Cribb
Date:
2009
Published by:
Ministry of Social Development: Social Policy Journal of New Zealand
Location:
New Zealand
Abstract:
This article, based on the Families Commission publication The Kiwi Nest: 60 years of Change in New Zealand Families (2008), will discuss how family forms and roles within families have changed over the past 60 years, and will consider the future implications for those interested in families. The article first looks at New Zealand families today and includes projections looking forward. The different experiences of family over the last 60 years will then be presented through the lens of three generations of New Zealand families. The story that emerges is one of increasing diversity and change. The article concludes by discussing the implications for future public policy.
