Why in times of economic hardship do some families continue to offer to help others in the form of foster care? Can an understanding of foster families improve the targeting of foster programs? This paper presents findings from a study of more than 300 foster families from seven foster care agencies throughout urban and rural victoria. The families who currently choose or are chosen to foster are most likely to be dual parent, stable and settled Australians with an active connection and commitment to their local community and to family life and children. They do not appear to be motivated principally by rational monetary incentives but rather by a mixture of a belief in the benefits of family experiences, a strong desire to have and nurture children, a willingness to share tasks as a family unit, to both give and receive support and a conviction to be of service to others. It is concluded that foster families are not only child and family centred, they are part of active and reciprocal family and community networks that focus upon the needs of children and non-material family values.

The extent to which the child care needs of parents in paid employment are adequately met is an important matter. This paper examines the issue using data published in the recent report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia's Welfare 1993: Services and Assistance. Data from recent surveys by the Australian Bureau of Statistics are used to supplement the report's findings.

While families with both parents or the sole parent in paid employment are the major users of formal child care services many of them continue to experience difficulties in obtaining child care that meets their needs. Many of these families need to arrange their domestic and working lives to care for children within the family or rely on informal support by other family members, friends and neighbours. Many adopt a mix of strategies-formal services, informal support and flexible work arrangements-to meet their child care needs. These families show a high level of unmet demand for formal services; mothers in these families experience difficulties in balancing the competing demands of caring for children and paid employment.

In the present study 647 families with a kindergarten aged child along with their teachers were surveyed and a sub-group of parents were interviewed with a view to understanding the types of potentially stressful events the child had experienced along with their kindergarten adjustment. Commonly experienced personal events included birth of a brother/sister, hospitalisation and death of some-one they knew. Social and economic events commonly encountered included moving home and unemployment of a parent. In all, 25.3% of children were rated by teachers as ‘poorly’ or ‘very poorly’ adjusted at kindergarten. Stress resilient compared with stress affected children were adjudged by teachers to (1) be better able to tolerate frustration, (ii) to show leadership abilities and (iii) to enjoy better peer relations. One outcome of this study has been the development of a video/discussion package entitled ‘stressed out and growing up’. Developed in consultation with parents, teachers and health educators the package provides a resource for examining the effects of stress on children and adolescents

A study which reported information obtained from male child molesters and from the male victims of child abuse has recently been completed. When the results of this study were released, they attracted considerable media attention. Unfortunately the media reports were often inaccurate. The page 1 headline on the South Australian edition of the Australian (Powell, 6/1/95), for example said ‘One in two molesters cites abuse by Catholics’. This is incorrect. Furthermore, the media reports tended to unduly focus on issues to do with abuse by religious authorities and they failed to provide detail about other aspects of the study. In order to correct misinformation spread by the media, we present a short description of the study.

Australian children's interests groups are campaigning for legislation to prohibit adults from using physical punishment with children. In this study, 100 South Australian children, early childhood university students and parents were questioned about their personal experiences of physical punishment in childhood. All three groups had strong negative recollections of being smacked. All of the adult subjects agreed that physical violence is damaging to children's psychological development and they knew that smacking is banned in South Australian state schools and pre-schools. Nevertheless a significant number (79%) used physical punishment for disciplining their own children. Furthermore, 80% of parents and early childhood education students opposed State legislation to ban hand-smacking and only 50% approved legislation to ban adults from hitting children with an implement. Although the university students had been taught and used positive child management techniques in schools and pre-schools, 65% said that they would smack their own children for ‘naughty’ behaviour. The study suggests that early learning (even learning of a negative nature) can take precedence over professionally gained knowledge and professional practice. Advocacy groups would be advised to press for community education encouraging the use of alternative child management techniques before introducing changes to legislation.

Peter Dale is the principal author of Dangerous Families, which was first published in 1986. In it, he described an assessment and therapeutic approach to working with child abuse developed by the Rochdale Special Unit of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in Britain. In 1986, Peter became the Manager of the NSPCC Child Protection Team in East Sussex. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow in Social Policy and Social Work at Sussex University. He is currently completing a PhD study at the University of Brighton entitled: Clients' and therapists' perceptions of the psychotherapeutic process: A study of adults abused as children.

This interview was conducted whilst I worked as part of the East Sussex NSPCC Team for three months in 1993. This experience was made possible with the support of a Creswick Foundation Fellowship in Family Relations and Child Development and the Department of Social Work, Monash University.

In the interview, Peter discusses the changes in his thinking and practice since the publication of Dangerous Families.