Adopting change

The Advertiser: Adoption joy - and it's not too late at 55 :

"Demographics expert Professor Graeme Hugo, from the University of Adelaide, said the changes were 'consistent' with SA's changing society and ageing population. 'People are living longer, working longer and getting married later,' he said.

'You are also getting more couples marrying at quite differing ages."

We have just changed the laws so that older people can adopt children and the waiting period is less. If you adopt under 2 year olds you will get he $3000 maternity payment . Professor Graeme Hugo has hit the nail on the head when he says society has changed! It has. We have managed many things but other things like the amount of young people dying on the roads , the urgent need for child care places and more facilities for the aged are things which we haven't quite managed yet. We are going to have to make a shift because there are a number of disengaged groups who now don't have their needs met because we haven't looked at some fundamental changes. Shopping hours was one of the things we had to consider. Looking at what takeway and restaurant food was available. We are going to have to look at how we operate and what our needs are so that we create an even more positive environment for ourselves. Lots of kids are happy to do hands on active things in their learning but many of those courses have been changed or abandoned. We need to look at the skills we need and how we can offer those in a way that people can access. We need to look at how young ones are tied into 30 hour a week working contracts when they are supposed to be studying and how people who need work can only get 20 hour weeks spread over five days,transport, health...all sorts of fundamental changes need to be made. So our experts do need to sit down and look at these issues and we do need to vocalise our needs as a society. It's not about the I want, I want, I want. It's about how we can best set up our communities now to benefit the members.