Pathways Forward August/September 2010 Issue Three
Kia ora and welcome to everyone for our third online Pathways Forward newsletter.
As you are all aware the moratorium for new services is in place until December 2010. This will give us a chance to continue to consolidate our existing services and allow the Napier Office to put in place changes that will enable the shared services team to provide better service to all our services.
We are currently installing a new accounting package, working on internal IT matters and electronic storage of information as well as the imminent recruitment of a new Deputy CEO.
Strengthening our internal structure is vital as way of supporting our services given our massive growth, WASSTB has doubled in size in the past five years.
With the completion of the Hartford Ave project, I will be starting on the partnership agreement negotiations. These agreements are documents developed from the cluster meetings in 2006/2007 and is a document formalising our relationship for social services that began as a parish based services and is now working as partnership between the parish and WASSTB.
I look forward to meeting you all over the coming months.
Liz Andrews
Chief Executive Officer
Services Happenings
Heretaunga Seniors, Hastings
Monster Garage Sale, 18th Sept 2010
1120 Willowpark Rd Nth, Hastings
We would be delighted if any ‘locals’ could support this fundraising effort by donating much needed items for sale, or by attending on the day.
Please phone Barbara on 8707025 or Jean on 8726137 for collection of goods.
St. George's, OSCAR and Anglican Childcare, Whakatane
I would like to bring to your attention the tremendous way our childcare services have coped with the flooding in Whakatane.
The Oscar programme had to move to the Annie Ramson Centre because their usual place has had to be stripped and relined. In addition to that the St. George's Wesley room has had to be refurbished too. So it has been a refuge for those without room. The children seem to enjoying the changing and moving around. It is a credit to both the Homebased Childcare and St. George's how they have managed under trying circumstances and kept smiling.
Robert Bruere
Te Hapara Whanau Aroha Centre
Te Hapara Whanau Aroha Centre celebrated their 20th birthday last month by having a party with past and present pupils and parents, including the establishment board. The centre pick up their pupils and parents who spend time learning life skills like budgeting, parenting and cooking. St. Mary's Tahatai and St. Mary's Family Centre generously donoated two new vehicles that will prove invaluable to the team at THWAC.
Papamoa Village, Papamoa
At last we can announce the date of the ‘Wai O Ura’ official opening and blessing for the Papamoa Village Wai O Ura at Hartford Avenue, Papamoa. Together with Te Manu Toroa we will be holding our blessing ceremony for the site. All welcome.
Tuesday 7th September 2010 at 11am
The ending of this project sees the culmination of hundreds of hours of work from all those involved and an exciting new beginning for the Papamoa Community Support Centre and Te Manu Toroa, in a new location and in fantastically refurbished and renovated premises.
Finanical system update
The Shared Services team and the Diocese staff at the Anglican Centre, Napier are currently in the middle of the installation of a new server and accounting software, Empower. The new server is a microsoft application environment which will better support the development of IT as we look for more efffective ways to communicate at work. Staff are very excited about the deployment of Empower as it will radically reduce the amount of manual data entry needed. We are sincerely looking forward to having the new system running at full efficiency in the coming weeks however in the mean time it is a learning curve for all staff involved as they get used to a brand new way of processing information.
Now available.....
Teeshirts
Short sleeve tees $24.00
3/4 sleeve tees $25.00
Available in black (white writing) or white (black writing)
Sizes 8-18
When ordering please specify style, colour, size, organisation and quantity.
Place orders with Bron on bron@wasstb.com or 06 8339104.
Business cards
New look business cards.
When ordering please give the following details if relevant: name, qualifications, job title, service name, phone, fax, mobile, email and service address details.
Orders can be made up in minimum lots of 200 or more per person (ie a 2000 card order may be 10 people with 200 cards each). The price is very competitive and the larger the order the better the price.
Place orders with Bron on bron@wasstb.com or 06 8339104.
Training
Quality and Risk Training
Research
Research is valued within our organisation: research by others helps us to keep up with best practice and new developments in our areas of work, and our own research projects ensure we are delivering the best quality services to our clients.
At the end of June our remaining two PSD (Parent Support and Development) projects at St. Matthew's, Hastings and St. Francis, Rotorua will end. These projects have been fully funded by the Min. of Education for the past three years. They have provided very valuable support to the parents and children of the communities they serve.
As the whanau/family workers have written summary reports of their projects we realise how valuable learning has been gained about supporting the early education of children in vulneralbe families. We hope to gain funding to continue this excellent work.
If you have any ideas for research or evaluation projects in your area of work, Joy Tomoana (joy@wasstb.com) at the Napier office, would be happy to help or advise you with them.
Policies and Procedures
So far this year new policies concerning Supervision and Cybersafety have been added to our Services Administration Manual.
We have developed a new Cybersafety Policy and Cybersafety Use Agreement which all new staff will be asked to sign. Current staff will receive training in the new policy and standards over the new few months. As IT use is now central to most of our roles, this new policy and staff agreement is designed to keep our staff, client and organisational information safe.
Really Interesting Stuff.........
From the Rural Bulletin
Welfare Working Group
The Government’s Welfare Working group was established by Cabinet to undertake a fundamental review of NZ’s welfare system. Its main job is to identify how to reduce long-term welfare dependency. A final report will be presented to the government by the end of December 2010.
An Alternative Welfare Path
An Alternative Welfare Working Group (WWG) has been set up by Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church and the Beneficiary Advocacy Federation of NZ (BAFNZ). They want to hear from beneficiaries and the wider community about what they think are the main principles that are important for our social welfare system. Feedback from the forums and from other submissions will inform an alternative report for Government at the end of the year.
Submissions can be made by e-mail to alternative.welfare.working.group@gmail.com by post to Alternative Welfare Working Group c/- Caritas, PO Box 12-193, Thorndon, Wellington 614. The Group will run some public meetings throughout the country in August and September – watch for these at http://www.alternativewelfareworkinggroup.org.nz/awwg.html
Injury Prevention Toolkit
Children aged 0-4 years have been identified as an at risk group for unintentional injury in the home environment, particularly from falls, hot water burns, and poisonings. Over the last few months Toi Te Ora – Public Health Service has been working alongside Te Manu Toroa, Plunket, and Safe Kawerau Kids Injury Prevention Project, to develop an injury prevention e-toolkit that aims to compliment the injury prevention efforts of community providers who work with families of young children. The toolkit provides a step-by-step guide for carrying out an injury prevention project focusing on falls, hot water burns, poisonings, and child car restraint safety. It includes parent information sheets, injury prevention quick tip sheets, and a manual that records information and structures the delivery of in-home support. An evaluation guide and spreadsheet is also supplied.
This injury prevention resource is available now to download free from http://www.toiteorapublichealth.govt.nz/Injury_prevention_e-toolkit
All About Retirement Villages
The Department of Building and Housing has released a publication called “Thinking of living in a retirement village?” This publication is targeted at intending residents, their families, and existing residents. Sections in it cover: choosing the lifestyle you want; understanding the legal structure, signing up, village rules, complaints process, costs when leaving the village, and a financial checklist. The information is at http://www.dbh.govt.nz/UserFiles/File/Building/information%20for/Thinking-ofliving-in-a-retirement-village.pdf
Lottery Funding This Year
A total of $153 million in lottery funding will be pumped back into the community this year, as follows: • Creative NZ ($23,250,000); • NZ Film Commission ($10,850,000); • Sport and Recreation NZ ($31,000,000); • Lottery Regional Community Committees Bay of Plenty / Gisborne ($2,360,754); Hawke's Bay ($1,303,310);
More on allocations is at tp://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/153+million+lottery+funding+benefit+community+year. More on applying for Lottery grants is at http://www.cdgo.govt.nz/
NFP Remuneration Survey
The latest Not for Profit (NFP) Remuneration Survey shows that:
• a significant number of staff in the sector (37.5%) work less than a normal full-time week (37.5 or 40 hours) indicating that a large part of the sector is both under paid and under employed;
• on average, the difference in salaries between the Not for Profit Sector and the Public Sector at 1 May 2010 is 14.7%;The company that carried out the survey, Strategic Pay, says that despite the many challenges faced by the sector, not least modest remuneration, “employees in this sector probably love their work more than any other”.
NZ's Cheapest Supermarket
For the 11th year in a row Pak'n Save is the country's cheapest supermarket, according to Consumer NZ. Five tips for top shopping:
• take a list and stick to it;
• take advantage of multi-buys or stock up on other specials, even if you don't need them immediately;
• take advantage of discounts offered in store loyalty programmes - Fly Buys or OneCard;
• check the unit prices of items - larger items or quantities are not always cheaper; and
• don't be tempted by end-of-aisle promotions unless you were intending to buy the product anyway.
Living Beyond Your Means?
The average NZ adult is in the red to the tune of $4,400, not including mortgages or student loans.
Sorted.org.nz has identified five questions you can use to see if you are probably overspending:
• Is your credit card is maxed-out, or close to it, and you’re only making the minimum payments?
• Are you having difficulty paying all your bills at least once every three months?
• Do you have no idea how much your regular bills are every month?
• Do you have no idea how much spending money you have every month?
• If you lost your job, would you be in financial trouble within a month?
If you answer yes to three or more of these questions chances are you need to get your spending back under control.
Sorted.org.nz has a free budget calculator that makes putting a budget together easy, all you need is details of your current spending and income and it does the calculations for you. There’s also the Money Tracker tool so you can see exactly where your money goes and, if necessary, where you need to adjust your budget
What Makes Men & Women Happy?
Coca-Cola has set out to find what makes NZ men and women happy through the 2010 NZ Coca-Cola Happiness Survey (of 2000 Kiwis). The survey found that females scored 7.1 out of 10 for life satisfaction compared with the men who scored 6.9 out of 10. When it came to the top five things that created happiness both sexes rated:
• Your Family – Females (82%) vs Males (71%);
• Having enough money – Females (57%) vs Males (55%);
• Good Health – Females (57%) vs Males (52%);
• Your Friends – Females (51%) vs Males (46%); and
• Partner/Boyfriend/Girlfriend – Females (39%) vs Males (45%)
|
Liz Andrews ran three Quality and Risk workshops throughout the regions recently. The sessions covered updated information on health and safety, driving and transporting people safely, lockdown guidelines and how to manage emergency situations, what to do in poor weather, and how to manage physical events like floods, fires and accidents. Those that attended also looked at practical examples based on real situations we have experienced within our services in the past 12 months and how they would manage in each situation. Approximately 40 people attended the sessions.
Introduction to Cyber Safety
Lee Chisholm from Netsafe in Auckland spent a day in Hawkes Bay on the 26th July taking two sessions of cybersafety and how to be more cyber savvy.
Lee spoke of being good cyber citizens as cyberspace comes with its own set of responsibilities, duties and rights. She talked about social currency in cyber space, about how we use tools like email and the internet to increase one’s sense of community and how information shared encourages further social encounters.
Lee also covered information regarding passwording, communication technology, storing confidential information electronically, accidental access to inappropriate or illegal content, posting material regarding any of our services onto the internet or making links to our website.
She encouraged us all to use their website as it is a great resource , so visit wwww.netsafe.org.nz, in particular the 'Whatsit?' section of their site.
Lee spoke of being good cyber citizens as cyberspace comes with its own set of responsibilities, duties and rights. She talked about social currency in cyber space, about how we use tools like email and the internet to increase one’s sense of community and how information shared encourages further social encounters.
Lee also covered information regarding passwording, communication technology, storing confidential information electronically, accidental access to inappropriate or illegal content, posting material regarding any of our services onto the internet or making links to our website.
She encouraged us all to use their website as it is a great resource , so visit wwww.netsafe.org.nz, in particular the 'Whatsit?' section of their site.
IT Support
Waiapu Anglican Social Services is recommending our services use Neocom as our preferred provider of IT support and assistance.
Contact Paul if you:
wish to purchase software, licensing, computer hardware or internet services, need information regarding jet stream, mobile broadband or new email addresses or any ‘big pictre’ IT questions
Contact Neocom's helpdesk if you have:
any software or hardware problems ie computer making a strange noise, blank screen, internet, email or computer not working, computer not connecting to the printer or photocopier
Paul Hughes: 021 930 999
Paul Hughes email: Paulh@neocom.co.nz
Helpdesk Phone: 06 835 5534 press one for technical assistance
Helpdesk Email: helpdesk@neocom.co.nz
Fax: 06 835 0219
The hourly charge rate is $95.00 plus GST for Helpdesk work, which will be charged to the services.
After hours support (after 5pm weekdays, weekends and public holidays) $ 115 plus GST.
Pathways Forward June/July 2010 Issue Two
Kia ora and welcome to everyone for our second online Pathways Forward newsletter.
I bring you news of exciting progress at the Papamoa Village in Hartford Place, Papamoa. We are near completion and all staff concerned are looking forward to moving in. Update photos are in our service happenings section. Blessing dates are yet to be confirmed, however all will be invited.
I sincerely thank and congratulate Carol Goldie-Anderson for her work involved in launching the Seasons research project and to Joy Tomoana who carried out the research project. We have gained a valuable resource that we hope will support our Growing Through Grief service into the future.
I continue to meet regularly in Wellington with the Anglican Care Network as Chairperson. This group comprises of representatives from Social Services from each of the diocese in New Zealand. We liaise closely with Anglicare Australia and look to becoming more political and active as is Anglicare across the ditch. The network is currently creating their own website, a 'Who are we' brochure and continues to publish a newsletter every six months.
The two parent support and development projects at St. Francis, Rotorua and St. Matthew's, Hastings will finish at the end of June. We thank Corrine and Andrea for their excellent work in supporting out most vulnerable families.
Regional conferences are coming up next month! I urge you to attend and to think of any social justice motions you would like to bring along.
I look forward to meeting and hearing from you all over the coming months.
Liz Andrews
Chief Executive Officer
Services Happenings
St Matthew’s Family Support Service
St Matthew’s Early Childhood Centre in Hastings has successfully completed a three year Ministry of Education pilot project by effectively meeting the four Parent Support and Development project outcomes;
1. Improve effective parenting by vulnerable parents building on their skills and knowledge.
2. Increased participation and engagement in ECE by vulnerable children and their families.
3. Improve the consistency between what children learn at home and in the ECE environment.
4. Lead parents to be better connected to broader social support and informal networks.
As part of the pilot project a professional family support worker was appointed to work in partnership with the early childhood centre staff.
Over the last three years the Ministry of Education Parent Support and Development project has enabled the St Matthew’s family support service to be established and become a credible social support service within the Hastings community. The family support focus is based on walking alongside families in their parenting journey to ensure children have a safe and secure childhood to enable them to grow up being competent and confident members of our society.
St Matthew’s Family Support Service would like to thank Eastern and Central Community Trust for their recent donation and support.
Hastings City Playgroup
The Hastings City Playgroup is a community parent led playgroup which meets in the St Matthew’s Parish hall every Thursday (during the school terms) from 9.30 to 11.30am.
The playgroup has been supported by Louisa Archer an early childhood teacher from St Matthew’s Early Childhood Centre and Andrea Driver the St Matthew’s family support worker.
This newspaper article highlights the new sand pit recently completed.
St Francis Whanau Aroha Centre, Rotorua
St Francis Whanau Aroha Early Childhood and Family Support Centre children and teachers with a garden shed filled with Tui garden products which they won In the Great NZ Garden Grow off competition. St Francis won first prize in the community garden section.
In May children and teachers had a prince and princess day where children, parents and staff dressed up to present the children with their Duffy books. The presentation was followed with an afternoon tea of prince and princess food, such as Queen cakes, star biscuits.
A number of parents have been attending weekly swimming lessons with their child at the local Aquatic Centre. The course is 12 weeks and parents and children learn together water confidence and how to be safe in the water.
In March children and families took part in a Tot Trot in the Redwoods. There were activities set up to promote physical activities for pre school children. A lot of fun and exercise was had by all.
Sandra Anderson
The Dovecote Drop-in and Op Shop, Papamoa
The Dovecote Drop-in and Op Shop (part of the Papamoa Mission) turned 10 years old this year. Celebrations began with a dinner attended by approximately 70 people, most of whom had been volunteers or helped in some way at some stage over the last 10 years. Certificates were presented to those who had served for more than 5 years.
The Mayor of Tauranga City, Stuart Crosby spoke about the future development anticipated for the whole Tauranga area and Papamoa in particular.
It was a wonderful evening and an opportunity to say thank you to so many who have worked tirelessly for their local community.
During the month other special “days” will be happening at the shop to mark these first ten years. Adrienne Bruce
Managers Pauline Simpson and Cris McCrae with Mayoress Lesley Crosby (cutting the cake, which was made and decorated by The Revd Sandra Johnston, Priest Assistant at the Papamoa Mission)
Abbotsford Early Childhood Centre, Waipawa
Abbotsford has been having PD all year with a multi cultural focus. Over the last term this has included trying different foods from other cultures. One such meal brought in by a Samoan family attending the Centre has had a spin off of us engaging in an out reach to Samoa where we have been collecting items (clothing, toys etc) to be sent over the Samoa. This is pretty exciting and we are getting an awesome response from the families donating
Danielle Fraser
Growing Through Grief
Joy Tomoana has recently completed an amazing piece of research for our Seasons programme. The research has shown the major impact this programme has in the lives of young people and their communities.
The study identified that a concern for many parents was the anger and aggression of their grieving children. Many parents reported their children showed a marked decrease in this and other negative behaviours or moods by the end of the programme. The children themselves expressed relief about being to talk to someone about their worries.
Carol Goldie-Anderson, says the focus of Seasons is on peer support and really listening to children. “Seasons has supported thousands of children over the years and the feedback has always been overwhelmingly positive. The research confirms our experience and the value of this programme for children, their families and their futures.”
This study endorses overseas findings that programmes to support children who experience grief and loss can have a very positive impact on their well-being, with benefit to them, their families and communities. The opportunity to talk with others is key. One mother of a 5 year old boy said she enrolled her son because ”I want him to be able to express how he’s feeling. I don’t want him to grow up to be an angry young man”.
Please contact Joy Tomoana on joy@wasstb.com for more information regarding the research project.
Papamoa Village, Papamoa
Look at the progress being made!
Staff Happenings
Marie Shone for personal reasons is moving to Hamilton after 14+ years at Te Hapara Whanau Aroha Centre. We wish her all the very best for the future and our thoughts are with her.
Now available.....
Teeshirts
Short sleeve tees $24.00
3/4 sleeve tees $25.00
Available in black (white writing) or white (black writing)
Sizes 8-18
When ordering please specify style, colour, size, organisation and quantity.
Place orders with Bron on bron@wasstb.com or 06 8339104.
Business cards
New look business cards.
When ordering please give the following details if relevant: name, qualifications, job title, service name, phone, fax, mobile, email and service address details.
Orders can be made up in minimum lots of 200 or more per person (ie a 2000 card order may be 10 people with 200 cards each). The price is very competitive and the larger the order the better the price.
Place orders with Bron on bron@wasstb.com or 06 8339104.
Training
Quality and Risk Training, free 3 hour workshopSustainability Session
Bay of Plenty
Tuesday 29 June 2010, 1.00pm to 4.00pm, St. Peters, 11 Victoria Street, Mt Maunganui
Gisborne
Wednesday 30 June 2010, 1.00pm to 4.00pm, Gisborne Parish Holy Trinity, Derby Street
Napier
Friday 2 July 2010, 1.00pm to 4.00pm, Anglican Administration Centre, Cnr Raffles and Bower Streets, Napier
This workshop will give you:
* Updated information on health and safety; and quality and risk
Topics covered will include:
* Driving and transporting people safely
* Lockdown guidelines and how to manage emergency situations ie aggressive people, threats to staff
* Poor weather and physical events is floods, fires and accidents
* Practical examples based on real situations we have experienced in the past 12 months relevant to both parishes and social services
Introduction to Cyber Safety, free 2 hour workshop
Napier
26th July 2010
10.00am to 12.00pm and 1.00am to 3.00pm
Anglican Administration Centre, Cnr Raffles and Bower Streets, Napier
This workshop will give you:
* An overview of how to be cyber savvy
* Tools to ensure safe cyber use
Topics covered will include:
* Passwording : creating strong passwords, not sharing with others, how to set them up on your computer
* Communication technology : which email attachments not to open, security or lack of security with email and cellphone messages
* Storing confidential information electronically : how to ensure its safe and to maintain privacy of information
* Accidental access to inappropriate or illegal content. How this happens, what to do about it if it does
* Posting material regarding any of our services onto the internet or making links to our website
* Introduction to WASSTB Staff and Volunteer Cybersafety Agreement
* Your own cyber safety questions
‘Living well within our means, within our communities’ was Brian McMillan’s main message at the recent sustainability session held at All Saints in Taradale on 28th May.
The word sustainability is used a lot these days in all sorts of ways and places. The people who attended Brian’s workshop looked at just what being sustainable really means – especially in a world faced with dwindling oil supplies, an unstable climate, and a global population likely to top nine billion. They discussed and explored ways to make sure that at work, home, and play we treat the Earth and each other kindly.
Brian was a wealth of knowledge and highlighted a number of guidelines we could all choose to live by. These included be positive – we can make a difference; stay informed; let people know sustainability is important ie government, business, friends; support local initiatives; vote with ballot, our wallets and our feet; and as a church use our national and international networks. Overall we need to remember that we each have a voice and together we can make our voices heard.
IT Support
Waiapu Anglican Social Services is recommending our services use Neocom as our preferred provider of IT support and assistance.
Contact Paul if you:
wish to purchase software, licensing, computer hardware or internet services, need information regarding jet stream, mobile broadband or new email addresses or any ‘big pictre’ IT questions
Contact Neocom's helpdesk if you have:
any software or hardware problems ie computer making a strange noise, blank screen, internet, email or computer not working, computer not connecting to the printer or photocopier
Paul Hughes: 021 930 999
Paul Hughes email: Paulh@neocom.co.nz
Helpdesk Phone: 06 835 5534 press one for technical assistance
Helpdesk Email: helpdesk@neocom.co.nz
Fax: 06 835 0219
The hourly charge rate is $95.00 plus GST for Helpdesk work, which will be charged to the services.
After hours support (after 5pm weekdays, weekends and public holidays) $ 115 plus GST.
Research
Research is valued within our organisation: research by others helps us to keep up with best practice and new developments in our areas of work, and our own research projects ensure we are delivering the best quality services to our clients.
At the end of June our remaining two PSD (Parent Support and Development) projects at St. Matthew's, Hastings and St. Francis, Rotorua will end. These projects have been fully funded by the Min. of Education for the past three years. They have provided very valuable support to the parents and children of the communities they serve.
As the whanau/family workers have written summary reports of their projects we realise how valuable learning has been gained about supporting the early education of children in vulneralbe families. We hope to gain funding to continue this excellent work.
If you have any ideas for research or evaluation projects in your area of work, Joy Tomoana (joy@wasstb.com) at the Napier office, would be happy to help or advise you with them.
Policies and Procedures
So far this year new policies concerning Supervision and Cybersafety have been added to our Services Administration Manual.
We have developed a new Cybersafety Policy and Cybersafety Use Agreement which all new staff will be asked to sign. Current staff will receive training in the new policy and standards over the new few months. As IT use is now central to most of our roles, this new policy and staff agreement is designed to keep our staff, client and organisational information safe.
Really Interesting Stuff.........
From the Rural Bulletin
Preventing Domestic Violence - Freephone
Shine, the national organisation offering a free helpline, and family violence prevention training and consultancy, has changed its free national crisis domestic violence telephone number. The new freephone crisis domestic violence telephone number is 0508 744 633.
Autism Spectrum Disorder Information
Free resources are available on an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) website to help people working in health and education recognise the signs of possible ASD and decide what action to take. Included are Quick Cards on recognition (in English, Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Is., Maori), and information about referral (English only).
More is at www.asdguideline.com
Non-Teaching Staff: Police Vetting
A new Education Amendment Act sets out new rules for Police vetting for non-teaching staff and contractors in schools and early childhood education services, including vetting of an adult household member (when children are enrolled in a home-based service are being cared for in someone else’s home). More is at http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/Schools/PublicationsAndResources/Circulars/Current/Circular201009.aspx
Resource for Older Workers
A booklet, Looking to the Future, has been published by the Mental Health Foundation to help guide older people when they choose employment options (by 2020 one in four people in the workplace will be 55 or older). It includes information on choosing to continue to work and how to deal with potential issues in the workplace. Looking to the Future is available from the Foundation's library at http://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/page/27-Welcome#library
Budget 2010 Fact sheets
On the Beehive website are a number of fact sheets giving more details about aspects of the recent Budget.
All of this information can be accessed from: http://www.beehive.govt.nz/feature/budget2010
Test Your Ethics/Values
Surely most of us believe ourselves to be fair-minded, honest and - of course - correct when it comes to issues of right and wrong. But how do your individual beliefs match up to others? The site YourMorals.org provides easy-to-complete tests of your ethics, values and morality, with instant results that chart where your judgments fall amid other participants’.
More is at http://www.yourmorals.org/
Fatherhood Transforms Behaviour
Fatherhood can transform anti-social young men into responsible citizens, according to new research commissioned by Victoria’s Institute of Policy Studies. All the men indicated that fatherhood changed their attitudes to the world. It made them see the value in taking up work, acquiring job skills and improving their lifestyle. They were committed to doing the best for their children, and were open about the deep emotional bond they had with them.
The research paper has been published on the Institute of Policy Studies website