Industrialised countries worldwide are confronting the prospect of a steadily ageing population. This up-to-date book reflects the breadth of research into gerontology and analyses the major themes and issues in the area of ageing and social policy in both an Australian context and from an international comparative perspective. Topics discussed include unemployment, education, and housing for the aged. Added to this is the contemporary influence of multiculturalism and the challenge it poses to policies and programs that must cater for a growing diversity in the ageing population. A special focus is given to the situation of women and Aboriginal Australians and the specific structural disadvantages they face. This book is essential reading for students and policy-makers in sociology, social and public policy, gerontology, and public health.

With the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), commentators began to situate the evolution of the status of children within the context of the ""property to persons"" trajectory that other human rights stories had followed. In the first edition of A Question of Commitment, editors R. Brian Howe and Katherine Covell provided a template of analysis for understanding this evolution. They identified three overlapping stages of development as children transitioned from being regarded as objects to subjects in their own right: social laissez-faire, paternalistic protection, and children's rights. In the social laissez-faire stage, children are regarded as objects, and largely as the property of parents. In the paternalistic protection stage, children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection. The children's rights stage lays emphasis on children as rights-bearers, as individuals in their own right with entitlements. In this second edition, new essays assess the extent to which children's rights have been incorporated into their respective areas of policy and law. The authors draw conclusions about what the situation reveals about the status of children in Canada. Overall, many challenges remain on the pathway to full recognition and citizenship.

For his son, One man will reach for the impossible.

Will Smith stars in this moving tale inspired by a true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman who's struggling to make ends meet. When his girlfriend Linda (Thandie Newton) walks out, Chris is left to raise their 5-year old son Christopher (Jaden Smith) on his own. Chris' determination finally pays off when he lands an unpaid internship in a brutally competitive stockbroker-training program, where only twenty interns will make the cut. But without a salary, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and are forced to sleep on the streets, in homeless shelters and even behind the locked doors of a metro station bathroom. With self confidence and the love and trust of his son, Chris Gardner rises above his obstacles to become a Wall Street legend.

This book examines the risk factors surrounding children at risk of experiencing and perpetrating violence, and looks at the positive role that children's rights can play in their protection. The authors propose that violence in childhood is not spontaneous: that children are raised to become violent in poorly functioning families and child-unfriendly environments. They may be exposed to toxic substances in utero, to maltreatment in infancy, to domestic violence or parental criminality as they grow up. Each of these risk factors is empirically linked with the development of antisocial and aggressive behaviour, and each reflects a violation of children's rights to protection from maltreatment. The authors show how respecting children's rights and safeguarding them from exposure to violence can shift the balance between risk and protective factors and, as a result, reduce the incidence and severity of childhood violence. This book will be essential reading for professionals working in child protection or with young offenders, academics, students, practitioners and policy-makers.

More than a quarter of a century has passed since Canada promised to recognize and respect the rights of children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ratification of the Convention cannot, however, guarantee that everyone will abandon proprietary notions about children, or that all children will be free to enjoy the substance of their rights in every social and institutional context in which they find themselves, including - and perhaps especially - within families. This disconnect remains one of the most important challenges to the recognition of children's rights in Canada.The authors argue that social toxins are as harmful to children's independent welfare and developmental interests as environmental toxins, and that both must be eradicated if Canada is to fulfill its commitments under the Convention. They also argue that if Canada wishes to ensure the substance of the rights outlined in the Convention are socially guaranteed, an attitudinal or cultural shift is required concerning the moral and legal status of children. This revised, expanded, and updated edition of the bestselling Challenge of Children's Rights for Canada will be of interest to academics, policymakers, parents, teachers, social workers, and human service professionals - indeed to anyone who cares about and for children.