Programs & Services

Welfare Payments Reform

• Welfare Payments Reform
  The Welfare Payments Reform framework is designed to promote positive parenting in the best interests of children.

Child Support

• The Child Support Scheme
  The Child Support Scheme (the Scheme) aims to ensure that children receive an adequate level of financial support from both parents following separation.
• History of the Child Support Scheme
  The Child Support Scheme was introduced in 1988 in response to concerns about the adequacy of court-ordered child maintenance and the difficulties that existed in the collection of maintenance in Australia.

Parenting

• Paid Parental Leave scheme
  Information on the Paid Parental Leave scheme introduced in the 2009-10 Budget.
• Family Support Program
  The Family Support Program is a suite of Commonwealth funded services to support families, to improve child wellbeing and development, safety and family functioning though the provision of integrated support services.

Children

• Protecting Australia's Children
  The Australian Government is taking the lead with State and Territory Governments and the community sector to develop and implement a national framework for protecting Australia's children.
• Children and Family Roundtable
  The Children and Family Roundtable will support the Australian Government deliver policies and programs that maximise the wellbeing of children and their families.

Family finance

• Commonwealth Financial Counselling (CFC)
  CFC provides free financial counselling services to people who are experiencing personal financial difficulties, including due to circumstances such as unemployment, sickness, credit over-commitment and family breakdown.
• Welfare Payments Reform
  The Welfare Payments Reform framework is designed to promote positive parenting in the best interests of children.

Family relationships

• Recognition of same-sex relationships
  The Government introduced wide-ranging reforms to ensure that same-sex de facto couples and their families are recognised and have the same entitlements as opposite-sex de facto couples.
• Apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants
  The Australian Government delivered a formal apology to the Forgotten Australians and former child migrants at a special remembrance event in Canberra on Monday 16 November 2009.
• Find and Connect services and projects
  The new National Find and Connect Service will provide Australia-wide coordinated family tracing and support services for care leavers to locate personal and family history files and the reunite with members of their families, where that is possible.

Research

• National Research Study on the Service Response to Past Adoption Practices
  Australian Institute of Family Studies has been commissioned to conduct the National Research Study on the Service Response to Past Adoption Practices.
• National Child Protection Clearinghouse
  The National Child Protection Clearinghouse is based in the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)
  Growing up in Australia - The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) will provide a comprehensive national picture of Australian children and their families.
• The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey
  The primary objective of the HILDA Survey is to support research in income, labour market and family dynamics.