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Endeavour Forum Inc, Public Meeting
Celebrating our 31st Birthday
7.30 pm, Friday, 5th February 2010 at St. Patrick's School Hall, Childers St., Mentone, Vic. 3194. The meeting will be chaired by Mr. David Perrin, National President, Australian Family Association. Special guests:
His Lordship Bishop Peter Elliott, DD, who will say the Opening Prayer, and Mrs. Jan Kronberg, MLC who will speak on "Promoting a pro-life message in Victoria". The vote of thanks will be given by Mr. John Morrissey, writer and teacher. The Phyllis Schlafly awards will be presented by David Perrin and Babette Francis

The meeting will be followed by supper.

All welcome, $10 donation appreciated. RSVP essential.
Mrs. Prue Oldham, (03) 9583 6835 or
Mrs. Margaret Butts, (03) 9589 5039

Prayer

The family is God's design for society: mother, father and children. Families are important throughout the Bible. Psalm 68: "God set the solitary in families".God promised Abraham his descendants would be as the stars in heaven. Through Abraham came the Holy Family and God's greatest Gift to humanity, the birth of Jesus Christ.Now Father as we see the assault on the family in contemporary society, we ask that You will hear our prayers for them, that they will stand strong against the forces of evil that seek to destroy them. We ask in Jesus' Name, Amen.

Senate Report: Long-term childcare a risk

The Senate's Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee Inquiry on Childcare reported that young children who spend long stretches in childcare may be at risk of stunted development, and babies are best cared for at home by a parent. The report was compiled in the wake of the collapse of major childcare provider, ABC Learning Centres. "Formal childcare at a young age can place children's social, emotional and behavioural development at risk" the report warns.

However, the committee accepts that consumer demand will drive a market for this type of childcare. The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union called the comments a "guilt trip" for working parents. This comment implies that a parent staying out of the paid workforce to care for young children is not doing work of any value to the nation, or indeed to anybody. It is a mindset which needs to be countered. The “consumer demand” the Senate committee refers to is fuelled by the economic necessity for both parents to be in paid jobs to cover living expenses and mortgages if they want to own a home. Last century families could afford to buy a house on a working-class man’s income because a family component was built into that wage.

Today a stay-at-home mother gets about $12,000 in government benefits during the first year of her child’s life, while a mother who takes the Government’s l8 weeks paid maternity leave and returns to work full-time would be eligible for nearly $19,000 in government payments when childcare subsidies are included. “... This represents one arm of the Government working in the opposite direction to other policy measures” the Senate report said. The obvious solution is to give all mothers the same maternity leave/childcare subsidy payment regardless of workforce status,and so give them a choice about if and when they return to paid work.

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