Worried about its dwindling numbers, the Roman Catholic church in southern India is exhorting its flock to have more children, with some parishes offering free schooling, medical care and even cash bonuses for large families, church officials have said. The strategy comes as India’s population tops 1.2 billion, making it the second most populous country Read more
Latifa Nabizada’s daughter often goes to work with her helicopter pilot mum. Malalai has flown over 300 missions because the Afghan air force has no childcare facility. Family friendly workplaces take on a whole new dimension when going to work with a parent means heading to the frontline. In some ways Latifa’s story is heroic. Read more
Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago and they hoped that one day their son would get to know some of his half-siblings – an extended family of sorts for modern times.
So Ms Daily searched a web-based registry for other children fathered by the same donor and helped to create an online group to track them.
Today there are 150 children, all conceived with sperm from one donor, in this group of half-siblings, and more are on the way. ”It’s wild when we see them all together – they all look alike,” Ms Daily, 48, a social worker, said.
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An Australian report says the well-being of Australia’s children and young people has deteriorated alarmingly in the past decade – and the falling marriage rate is partly to blame. The report pinpoints the fall in the marriage rate since 1989 from seven per 1000 population to 5.5 – and the rise in children born to Read more
Vulnerable children from the most deprived communities have become “silent victims” of the recession, often having to go without healthy food, healthcare and clothing, a new report has found. The yearly Children’s Social Health Monitor, released on Monday, examines the effects of the economic downturn on children. Researchers say children with preventable illnesses are being left untreated Read more
A workshop organised by the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative attended by lawyers, police, Ports Authority officials and Government officials has been told that “Human trafficking is real and it happens in the Solomon Islands,” Sister Doreen told the workshop that the issue of human trafficking has been seen as a problem experienced only in Read more
The head of the Sabbath Day Christian Revival Church, Pastor Vilikesa Raqio, has requested the Fiji Government to reconsider its stand on religious groups that keep their children out of school. Mr Raqio said he supported the Government’s intention to send all school-aged children to school, but said “I strongly feel that those religious groups that Read more
This week Labour’s youth justice spokesperson Jacinda Ardern will table a Care of Children Law Reform Bill, which would require the Law Commission to review and update adoption laws. The bill would replace the Adoption Act, which is more than 50 years old. “The current Act fails to recognise that more than three-quarters of children Read more
Telling stories is an essential part of being human. Marketing those stories keeps booksellers in business so it’s an interesting twist to find that major chains intend to boycott Breaking Silence: The Kahui Case, Macsyna King’s story about the death of her twins, a tragedy that has horrified New Zealanders. “There’s no way I can Read more
Pope Benedict has decried an approach to agricultural production based solely on profit, and called for steps to protect family farming, as he met on July 1 with leaders of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He spoke of hunger born of selfish behaviour. He said persistent world hunger was a “tragedy” driven by Read more