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The article presents information about the 2004 Family Conference, held in Singapore. The Australian Institute of family Studies participated in the conference that was held to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family (IYF). The IYF celebrations culminated in a two-day Family Conference followed by a Family Festival. The Family Conference was organized by Singapore's Committee on the Family, the IYF taskforce, and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. The conference comprised two parts: a Regional Family Policy Forum and Family Matters Seminar. Speakers from various countries were nominated to present papers and to join in panel discussions which involved considerable audience participation. The article discusses various issues raised in the papers presented at the Regional Family Policy Forum. In total, nine papers were presented during the Forum. Considerable consistency in findings or conclusions emerged not only within the three sessions but also across these sessions.

The article presents an edited version of a paper presented to the Sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria on 25-29, November 1998, concerning attachment theory and marital adjustment. Pre-marriage education has a long history in Australia and there is a wide range of pre-marriage and relationship education programs offered by religious and secular organisations. Some of these programs, through raising awareness and teaching relationship skills, aim to prepare young couples for marriage, while others provide opportunities for married couples to identify their strengths and develop ways of dealing with current and potential problems. Practitioners in both the education and counselling fields draw on a vast body of theory and knowledge about relationships which provides both descriptive and explanatory information, and experiential learning tools and resources. A rapidly expanding field of research, attachment theory, provides a framework for explaining how relationships form, develop, and break down, and offers educators and counsellors tools for informing and challenging those preparing for, and experiencing difficulties in, marriage. INSET: Attachment theory and research..

The article presents information about the Asia Pacific Family Dialogue hosted from October 11-13, 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Asia Pacific Family Dialogue was the final in a series of four Regional Dialogues, leading up to an international conference on the family held in Doha, Qatar, from November 29-30, 2004, as agreed upon at the United Nations General Assembly in December 2003. The other three gatherings took place in Mexico City, Stockholm and Geneva. The ultimate aim of this entire process is to provide recommendations to strengthen and fortify the natural and fundamental group unit of society. The Dialogue was hosted by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, in conjunction with the World Policy Center, Brigham Young University, Utah. More than 70 papers were presented by speakers from 20 countries, including Australia and New Zealand. In addition, round-table discussions were held on such issues as marriage, parents and children, family life, family values and families and government policies.

The article presents abstracts of various research papers that were contributed to the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Conferences give authors the opportunity to present preliminary findings and progress from research studies which are not at publication stage, to present progress reports and evaluation of service programs or projects, to examine the effectiveness of government programs in the field, and to float new ideas for discussion. While papers predominantly appear in conference proceedings, they may also be published in journals or edited collections. Some of the papers that have been selected for the Conferences are "Balancing the scales: National Conference on Sexual Assault, Perth"; "Enhancing access to justice"; "Family research: pathways to policy"; "The role of state, family and market in social policy." The Institute's Australian Family & Society Abstracts database can be accessed in all Australian university libraries, in state and government department libraries, and many TAFE, school, and public libraries.

The article presents information on the Fertility and Family Surveys (FFS) Flagship Conference. The conference, which will take stock of what is known from FFS as well as from other data on new partnership and fertility behavior patterns in Europe and North America, will be held from 29 to 31 May in the year 2000. It will be hosted by the Population and Family Study Centre (CBGS) in Brussels, Belgium. This FFS Flagship Conference will be a scientific conference addressing substantive fertility and family issues, their developments over time and their dynamics from a comparative perspective. It will also discuss policy implications. Each plenary session will start with the presentation of a solicited paper by a well-known population scientist who will speak on the subject for about 30 minutes. This will be followed by a presentation/discussion of a selection of the best papers contributed to each session. Thereafter, the floor will be open for general debate. A chairperson will be responsible for ensuring that the session's programme is adhered to.

The article highlights the 1998 Sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria on November 25-29, 1998. The conference attracted more than 450 delegates and over 150 papers were presented across the three days. The presiding member of the Institute's Board of Management, Dame Margaret Guileful, welcomed Senator the Jocelyn Newman, Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister assisting the Prime Minister on the status of women, who opened the conference. It was the Minister's first opportunity to meet with the Institute's Board, having assumed responsibility for the Institute after the federal election in October. The conference theme, changing Families, Challenging Futures, was introduced in the opening session by Keynote speaker Richard Eckersley, a visiting fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University. After several conferences in which developmental issues dominated the children and young people stream, this conference focused more on policy and programs.

The article presents news about the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The International Social Security Association's conference, "Social Security in the Global Village," held in Helsinki, Finland, in September 2000, covered a wide array of research topics, including issues to do with the social protection of families. The Institute presented a paper at this conference on the topic 'Social capital, social cohesion and social security' which was well received. A conference was held in Melbourne in November 2000 on 'Welfare Reform,' hosted by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services. Welfare reform was also a key theme for discussion at the Australian Council of Social Service National Congress in Canberra in November. There was vigorous discussion at both of these conferences on the advantages and disadvantages of current proposals for welfare reform, as well as the implications for administration. At both conferences a number of keynote presenters emphasized the importance of history. Social protection and poverty are important areas of research that need to be considered in the context of social protection, particularly incentive issues and their impact on families.

The article offers news briefs related to family health in Australia. The Centre for Child and Family Development will offer a four-unit course and advance studies in child and family development in April 2008 in Melbourne. The 29th Australian Family Therapy Conference will be held on October 1-3, 2008 in Brisbane. Mark Galliker, Madeleine Grivel and Margot Klein joined the debate on co-dependency, comparing the wives of men with and without alcohol problems.

The article presents the introductory part of the symposium titled "Critical Perspectives on Career and Family-Friendly Policies." The objective of the symposium was to join the disciplinary backgrounds for both studies on career and family life. It states that, there must be a separation between family life and the study of career including family-friendly policy initiatives and the study of work organizations. In family life, social policy must be taken into consideration while occupational psychology, sociology of work and industrial relations would refer to the studies of career.

This article focuses on the Australian Institute of Family Studies' Web site. The Web site provides Institute research, information projects and publications, and access to Institute databases and resource collections. A feature of the Institute's Web site for the past two months has been the Institute's conference, "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria in November 1998. The Institute's Web site offers a full listing of Institute publications with descriptions, prices and information for ordering print copies. A growing collection of papers is also directly available from the Web site. Users should select "Publications" and click on "Current Publications," to find works arranged in subject groupings and also a list of titles available in full text. Child protection and youth suicide prevention are the foci of two specialist information projects hosted by the Institute. To provide access to the current literature in these subject areas a series of regularly updated bibliographies has been compiled.

The article discusses several developments concerning the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The institute invites registrations from people wishing to attend the sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, to be held at the Carlton Crest Hotel in Melbourne from November 25-27,1998. The conference will provide a valuable forum for those interested or involved in family research, the development of family policy, or providing services to families in Australia. The conference will focus on family issues in Australia and feature the presentation and discussion of findings of the Institute's own studies, along with work from other researchers, government bodies, service providers and community organizations. It reports that over 150 presentations will be made during the course of the conference. The conference will include keynote addresses, papers, symposia, display and discussion poster presentations, and workshops. All have been grouped into the following broad themes. The article also presents information on family values and family relations, effects of divorce on family members, demographic change, life courses and family futures, and others.