Abstract
The Australian state of South Australia has adopted a policy of requiring state agencies to accompany all requests for policy changes with a family impact statement and established a Family Research Unit to develop guidelines. The article reports on this experience using case examples. Of interest is the attempt to diminish conflict over various family forms and styles by focusing on the family function of care of dependents. The requirement for impact statements has generally been accepted by state agencies, but as the statements are not made public their principal value has been to heighten the awareness of administrators and members of Parliament regarding family impact. Some concerns raised by the South Australian experience are how to balance impact on individual family members with impact on the family as a unit. Also there is a need to improve quality control by establishing standards for statements and for staff expertise.
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