The issue of whether or not the basic principle guiding the placement of Australian children in need of care is applied in practice is addressed in this expanded seminar paper. It is pointed out that the principle stating that the child's welfare should be of paramount concern has been incorporated into Australian legislation in the Adoption Act…

Theories furthering understanding of the effects of child rearing practices on psychiatric disturbance are briefly reviewed. Particular attention is given to family dynamics, the double-bind hypothesis, and the development of schizophrenia and related border line syndromes that lead to psychotic phenomena. The issue of child rearing practices is…

This study addressed the argument that early child care constitutes a risk to children's social adaptation, and that for high-risk samples this effect depends on the security of the infant-mother attachment relationship. A longitudinal investigation of 135 first-born children in a low-risk sample was conducted to discern the contribution of child…