Issues Facing Australian Families (3e)

The updated and revised edition of this successful title retains the broad structure of the previous editions, examining policy, program and practice responses to the multitude of issues that face Australian families today.
Quality contributors bring theoretical and practical expertise to discussions on housing, wealth and income distribution, work and unemployment, gender relations and health.
New co-editor Marjorie Quinn brings to the book a wealth of practical experience in direct human service delivery.  The third edition maintains the balance between policy/program and practice.

Foreword by Brian Howe
Introduction and Acknowledgments
Section I: Australian families: challenges in the contemporary context
1.      Change and the impact of re-structure on families: an introduction to key themes - Wendy Weeks and Marjorie Quinn
2.      Families and the social reconstruction of marriage and parenthood in Australia - Don Edgar
3.      Family welfare at the crossroads: a century of change - Michael Bittman and Jocelyn Pixley
4.      Family, state, market and citizenship - Lois Bryson
5.      The Post-welfare State? The political economy of the new social policy - John Ernst
6.      The legal context for Australian families: family law and children's legislation - Margaret Harrison
7.      Working with Aboriginal families: a cultural approach - Dawn Bessarub
8.      Atunypa Wiru Malparara Malparara: The strength of working together - Winnie Woods, Elsie Wanatjura, Tjikalyi Colin, Josephine Mick and Angela
Lynch
9.      Working with Australian families: towards anti-racist and culturally affirming practices - Marjorie Quinn
10.   Reflections on social work and human service practice with families and communities - Wendy Weeks
Further readings
Section II: Wealth and poverty: increasing inequalities
Introduction
Questions for Discussion
POLICY ANALYSIS
11.   From work for all to work for the dole: the challenges of Australian income security policy - John Wiseman
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
12.   Being there together - the Broadmeadows Poverty Action Group - Marjorie Quinn
PRACTICE
13.   Practice responses with women in poverty: the value of trained- in-life workers - Jane Thompson
Further readings
Section III: Housing and homelessness
Introduction
Questions for Discussion
POLICY ANALYSIS
14.   End of an era: challenges for Australian housing policy - Tony Dalton
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
15.   A residential care unit for the frail older people on the Pitjantjatjarra lands - Maureen Arch, Milyika Paddy, Eric Ducasse, Doug McManus
16.   Building our homes: a co-operative venture - Salvador Nunez and Marjorie Quinn
PRACTICE
17.   The company of women: SWCHS - Statewide Women's Community Housing Service Ltd - Maggi Hughes
Further readings
Section IV: Paid work and employment
Introduction
Questions for Discussion
POLICY ANALYSIS
18.   Working life, families and the welfare state - Brian Howe and Anthony O'Donnell
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
19.   Resisting homophobia in the Workplace - Moira Carmody
20.   Barriers to indigenous employment: marginalisation and exclusion - Graham J. Atkinson
PRACTICE
21.   "A Right to Work?" A perspective from the Australian Disability Rights Movement - Margaret Cooper
Further readings
Section V: Gender power relations, violence and safety
Introduction
Questions for Discussion
POLICY ANALYSIS
22.   Towards the prevention of violence and creation of safe, supportive gender relations - Wendy Weeks
23.   Naming violence as a gender issue: victimisation, blame and responsibility - Bob Pease
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
24.   "Let's lift the Lid: strategies to respond to domestic violence in Albury-Wodonga" - Helen la Nauze and Shirley Rutherford
PRACTICE
25.   The SHED project: a rural intervention project to prevent men's violence against women and children - Chris Laming
26.   When partnership is difficult: working with abused mothers of abused children - Judy McHugh and Lesley Hewitt
Further readings
Section VI: Health
Introduction
Questions for Discussion
POLICY ANALYSIS
27.   In sickness and health - Mary Draper
28.   Aboriginal health service delivery in remote Australia: Policy, program and practice considerations - Barbara Flick, Penny Miller, Paul Torzillo, and John Wilson
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
29.   "Your Way, My Way": Improving access of Aboriginal children and their families to the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne - Angela Clarke, Neville Austin, Shawana Andrews and Jane Miller
30.   Social environments and the emotional wellbeing of young people - Sarah Glover, Jane Burns, Helen Butler and George Patton
PRACTICE
31.   Belonging, health and culture: Reflections on a relationship in community arts - Suzy Pinchen
32.   Personal accounts of living with HIVAIDS: letters from Maurice Moreau
Further readings
BIBLIOGRAPHY 

• Increased coverage on indigenous Australian families and the particular social and political challenges that they face. Includes 13 Aboriginal authors in five chapters.
• Increased emphasis on multi-culturalism in Australian families and Australian society.
• Twelve new chapters and contributors.
• A new foreword by Brian Howe, previously Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, now lecturing in politics at the University of Melbourne.

• The first section on families sets the scene for students, introduces contemporary issues and canvasses the current debates. It provides the context for the subsequent sections that are devoted to specific policy and functional areas.
• Each section examines policy analysis, innovative programs and practice. The structure ensures that the text is easy to navigate and that students are focusing on the important issues and policies.
• Current examples and policy debates are featured throughout the text.
• Substantial numbers of case studies are included to demonstrate practical examples of social work models and community programs.
• This new edition maintains the tradition of including an impressive list of experienced and authoritative contributors.

 

• Associate Professor Wendy Weeks lectures in the School of Social Work, University of Melbourne.
• Marjorie Quinn lectures in the School of Social Science and Planning, RMIT.