Cumulative effects of bullying and racial discrimination on adolescent health in Australia

This study examined how cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization influences the health of Australian adolescents (n=2802) aged 10-11 years (19.3% visible ethnic minorities (non-White, non-Indigenous); 2.6% Indigenous) using data from 3 waves (2010-2014) of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization had incremental negative effects on socioemotional difficulties. Higher accumulated exposure to both stressors across time was associated with increased BMI z-scores, and risk of overweight/obesity. Studies that examine exposure to single risk factors such as bullying victimization or racial discrimination at 1 time point only are likely to miss key determinants of health for adolescents from stigmatized racial/ethnic backgrounds and under-estimate their stressor burden

Past adoption experiences: Impacts, insights and implications for policy and practice

The National Research Study on the Service Response to Past Adoption Practices examined the extent and effects of closed adoptions in Australia, to strengthen the evidence available to governments and service providers in addressing the current needs of those affected. With over 1500 participants, the study results provide an indepth understanding of the complex and, in many cases, urgent public health needs of those affected. These implications not only include the addressing the effects of ongoing trauma, grief and loss associated with past practices, but also the implications for adopted individuals and subsequent generations who want access to genetic and medical histories. The article highlights the characteristics of practice interventions that study participants deemed necessary to adequately respond to their current needs and, importantly, reflects on the parallels existing between the current adoption and assisted reproduction environments and the lessons needing to be learned from past practices

Past adoption experiences: Impacts, insights and implications for policy and practice

The National Research Study on the Service Response to Past Adoption Practices examined the extent and effects of closed adoptions in Australia, to strengthen the evidence available to governments and service providers in addressing the current needs of those affected. With over 1500 participants, the study results provide an in-depth understanding of the complex and, in many cases, urgent public health needs of those affected. These implications not only include the addressing the effects of ongoing trauma, grief and loss associated with past practices, but also the implications for adopted individuals and subsequent generations who want access to genetic and medical histories. The article highlights the characteristics of practice interventions that study participants deemed necessary to adequately respond to their current needs and, importantly, reflects on the parallels existing between the current adoption and assisted reproduction environments and the lessons needing to be learned from past practices

Past adoption experiences

The key focus of the study is to improve knowledge about the extent and effects of past adoption practices, and to strengthen the evidence available to governments to address the current needs of individuals affected by past adoption practices, including information, counselling, search and contact services, and other supports. The practices in Australia around the permanent transfer of parental legal rights and responsibilities from a child’s birth parent(s) to adoptive parent(s) have varied over time. The Australian Senate noted in their report on the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices (Senate Community Affairs References Committee, 2012; “the Senate Inquiry”) that “adoption as it is now understood is a peculiarly twentieth century phenomenon” (p. 3). Not only have adoption practices in Australia undergone considerable change, so too have society’s responses to pregnancies outside of marriage and single motherhood. Until a range of social, legal and economic changes in the 1970s, unwed (single) women who were pregnant were encouraged—or forced—to “give up” their babies for adoption. The shame and silence that surrounded pregnancy out of wedlock meant that these women were seen as “unfit” mothers. The practices at the time, called “closed adoption”, were seen as the solution. “Closed adoption” was where an adopted child’s original birth certificate was sealed forever and an amended birth certificate issued that established the child’s new identity and relationship with their adoptive family. Given the prevalence of adoption in Australia in the second half of the twentieth century— particularly in the 1960s and early 1970s—a significant proportion of the population has had some experience of or exposure to issues relating to adoption. The rationale for conducting the current study—the National Research Study on the Service Response to Past Adoption Practices—is to improve the adequacy of the evidence base for understanding the issues and the needs of those affected. Despite there being a wealth of primary material, there has been little systematic research on the experience of past adoption practices in Australia. The focus has also been on mothers’ experiences of “forced adoption” and the experiences of adoptees, with less focus on fathers, adoptive parents and other family members

Parental leave in Australia: Beyond the statistical gap

Information on the uptake of parental leave policies and the work experiences of parents prior to and following the birth of a child is extremely limited in Australia. In this research note we outline the development of, and some initial findings from, a survey designed to fill this statistical gap. We discuss methodological issues associated with collecting this type of data and present preliminary snapshots of the use of maternity and paternity leave in Australia in 2005. Our goal is to identify pathways beyond the statistical gap, both in the sense of providing basic statistics that are currently 'missing' and in extending the range and quality of information available on parental leave in Australia