The Report of the Royal Commission on Human Relationships was not only about sex, and not only about law; but many of its more controversial recommendations concerned the role of the criminal law in connection with sexual behaviour. Though some of the ideas are new, much of the Report brought together in a lucid and available form arguments that serious scholars have been urging for years. The reaction of some members of the community — especially Prime Ministers and bishops — nevertheless shows how far some community leaders are from a thoughtful, or even nonhysterical, appreciation of the issues. Ironically, their reactions demonstrate how much we needed the report.

In this column, I will summarise the Commissioners’ recommendations about rape and sexual offences against young people! Later, probably next time, I will look at the areas of abortion, incest, and perhaps the legal context of family planning.

“In health or education programmes designed for the welfare of infants and young children the gains that the children make vanish unless parents are closely involved.”

The following quotation appeared in a publication by E. M. Duvall:

Thus a Child Learns.

Effective legal provision for the adoption of children was not introduced into New South Wales until the passage of the Child Welfare Act of 1923. This paper examines some of the less formal and less effective practices which preceded that Act. The lack of adequate legislation affected all of those arrangements, creating problems out of issues which are today assumed to be solved. The early difficulties are seen to shed some light on modern discussions.

This paper reviews the relevant literature and attempts to highlight the implications of the research findings of Social Network Analysis for understanding the Greek family in Australia, with particular emphasis on its relevance for practitioners in the “helping” professions.

The author is concerned with the paucity of information available to practitioners in the field in the variety of settings where immigrant families seek personal help, and believes that the lack of such information lends itself to reinforcing, rather than eliminating, stereotypes and to inappropriate intervention in the lives of Greek immigrant families. The paper also highlights the need to understand Greek immigrant families within the context of the host community and to consider factors with regard to family functioning, that are common to all families.

Until the late 1960's the most popular advice literature for expectant mothers did not concern itself with advice on smoking. However, since the turn of the decade there have been increasing exhortations against smoking during pregnancy. For example, the Health Education Council (U.K.) has produced a pamphlet which commences: “When a pregnant woman smokes she puts her unborn baby's life at risk. Every time she inhales, she poisons her baby's bloodstream with nicotine and carbon monoxide.” Why have there been these increasing exhortations, and what is the evidence?