Burnside is an agency of the Uniting Church and has a role to facilitate the development of children and families most in need through quality services, research and advocacy. This article describes a home visiting model which was developed and approved for implementation as a three year pilot by Burnside on the Central Coast in NSW, beginning in 1997. The model is described and presented as a format that may be useful to stimulate similar program proposals elsewhere. The model uses paid professionals within the context of a ‘Family Centre’ with a volunteer network to offer ongoing home visiting support to first-time parents facing social and geographical isolation and who have few supports and resources to meet their needs. Importantly, the model relies on close collaboration with Child Health services and a partnership with other community agencies and the local community itself. The model accommodates current debate about the need to break cycles of abuse through positive preventative family support to strengthen families and communities.

Recent government decisions to close schools with small enrolments appear not to have taken into consideration the implications such a move might have for children’s out-of-classroom activities. Drawing on relevant literature, and accounts from teachers who have taught, or are teaching in small and large primary schools, this paper questions the prevailing belief that ‘bigger is better’ by pointing to some of the unique characteristics of small school playgrounds which provide children with opportunities and experiences not available in larger schools.

This paper addresses the issue of cooperation and the building of effective partnerships within the network of agencies that aim to strengthen and support families. It argues that an important step in building such partnerships is an awareness of what each agency does. This paper therefore sets out the context in which family support services are currently operating in NSW, the particular strengths of family support services and the contribution of such services to families and to planners. Constraints on family support services are also explored, particularly those that relate to the lack of recognition of the role of family support services and lack of resources available in NSW. There is an analysis of options regarding changes to work practices by family support services to deal with the lack of resources.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is currently the diagnosis of choice for children displaying a range of attentional and hyperactive-impulsive behaviours. Diagnostic criteria are set out in the DSM-IV, but considerable overlap with a number of other disorders continues to pose diagnostic problems. A further potential difficulty is that the diagnostic criteria describe, but do not explain, behaviour, increasing the risk for misdiagnosis. A group of children in a respite care program previously diagnosed with ADHD and medicated by paediatricians, serve to illustrate these issues.

This paper presents and examines issues pertaining to young lesbian wimmin in an Australian setting, with particular emphasis on the ‘coming-out’ process. Stereotypes as presented by Western culture are examined. Society’s honouring of the masculine at the expense of the feminine and the effect this has on young lesbian wimmin, and the development of non-heterosexual adolescents in general, is also discussed. Specific examples of episodes from a research project using memory-work methodology are used to highlight the experience many young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people encounter as they come to terms with their sexuality in a heterosexual culture.

The abuse of children in residential care has been one of the major scandals of the 1990s. This paper examines the largest child abuse inquiry ever held in Britain, the public inquiry into abuse of children in Children’s Homes in North Wales. The story, it is suggested, is almost too large to comprehend and too scandalous to absorb. One major lesson to be considered is that hundreds of victims each had his or her own story to tell but few people were prepared to listen.