Family

When Angelina Jolie adopted an abandoned boy in Cambodia, no one realised she would go on to pour millions of dollars into his homeland and make a lasting difference to some of the world’s poorest people. As the town of Samlout in north-western Cambodia comes into view, naked children and crumbling shacks give way to […]

Dr Jane Aronson is a world authority on adoption. She has overseen the placement of thousands of children, including to celebrities Angelina Jolie and Mary-Louise Parker. Angelina credits her with saving her daughter Zahara’s life: “My daughter is one of those children whom Jane helped have a chance to live, and I am forever grateful.” […]

The Weekly's Editor-in-chief Helen McCabe on why the magazine is campaigning to change Australia's adoption laws.

Australia has the third-lowest adoption rate in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – but why? The OECD has 34 member countries, including the UK, US, Canada, France and Germany, as well as developing nations like Chile, Turkey and Mexico. Advocates say there are several reasons for this. 1. The system is haphazard […]

Inter-country adoption is a complicated issue – here are some facts and figures about Australian international adoptions. In 2010, 197 children from overseas were adopted by Australian families, down from 434 in 2004-05. At the end of the year, a total Australian 963 applications were waiting at overseas placement agencies . Of the 197 placements […]

Deborra-Lee Furness raises two adopted children with her husband Hugh Jackman. Here, she talks about why adoption is important. I was asked to write a short piece about why I think adoption is important. I can’t think of anything more important than ensuring that every child in this world has at least one person who […]

Good manners are something we should all be using everyday and now, with the introduction of mobile phones, we have a new type of etiquette to be mindful of: phone etiquette. It’s one thing to be polite, but each new technology brings new challenges to etiquette, and having good phone etiquette affects almost all Australians […]

Shared parenting was enshrined in changes to the Family Law Act in 2006, but as Malcolm Knox discovers, the only thing that many separated parents now share is confusion, isolation and heartbreak. Anna* and her ex-husband had been sharing the care of their three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son for nearly a year when she noticed […]

I need advice about my daughter who is 18 years old and won’t get up for work. She stays in bed all day and doesn’t get up until the late afternoon and then goes out all evening. I’m at my wits end about what to do. I’ve done pretty well for myself financially and my […]

An old friend of mine has started going out with our 20 year old daughter and we are so upset. My wife is distraught and I can hardly sleep thinking about this horrible man pawing my lovely daughter and that he seems to have no shame over taking advantage of her and our friendship. He […]