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An agenda for families . . Page.. 496 ..

With those few words, I keenly welcome this ministerial statement on the establishment of the Children’s and Youth Services Bureau. I hope that it will deliver what I think it has the potential to achieve. There are no short, quick-fix answers to this problem. I know that various Ministers, who were dealing with it previously, explored a range of different options in trying to resolve the problems. This is yet another way of exploring a series of options. I hope that this will be successful. I think it is important to recognise that there has not been ill will on anybody's part in this area; it is really now a matter of trying something fresh, trying something new; seeing whether it works; and, if it is working, then being prepared to take the next steps on some of the issues that were raised by Ms McRae in terms of what is not actually included, rather than letting it go.

Debate (on motion by Mr Osborne) adjourned.

ADJOURNMENT

Motion (by Mr Stefaniak) proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Families

MR OSBORNE (4.56): Mr Speaker, I quote from the Federal Government's An agenda for families, which was released recently:

Families are the basic building blocks of our national life. They provide care like no government or any other agency ever can. They are the most important providers of education, health, welfare and personal development. Families nourish our potential, and nurture our individual and collective aspirations. They shape our character and pass on our values. They create a sense of belonging and continuity. They tell us who we are and what we might be. They teach us how to live with one another ...

The most important job of families is to care: to care for children, for spouses and partners, for siblings, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, for family members who are sick or who have a disability, and for family members who are aged and infirm.

I further quote:

Caring for family members is not only about their physical needs. It is also about their emotional and psychological needs. Caring includes handing on values and beliefs, family cultures and family histories including, in many cases, a sense of religious and ethnic identity. It is care and nurturing which ensures that society has citizens growing up to carry forward the social and moral responsibilities that come with our human dignity ...

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