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Young people who ‘age out of care’ generally do not have the continuing source of emotional, social and financial support that is available to most young people in their transition to early adulthood. They therefore face the challenges of making various transitions with fewer resources and less support, and at an earlier age and in a less graduated way than young people of the same age in the general population. Some, however, manage this process more successfully than others. The current study examines the links between stability, perceived or ‘felt’ security and later outcomes for young people 4–5 years after leaving care. It is based on a four‐wave longitudinal study over 5 years of 47 young people leaving care in New South Wales, Australia. Felt security in care, and continuity and social support beyond care were the main significant predictors of these young people’s outcomes 4–5 years after leaving care. While stability in care was important, this may be as a means to an end–building a sense of security, belonging and a network of social support.

To explore differences in concepts about development, mothers in two cultural groups were interviewed to determine: (a) their developmental timetables (the ages at which they expected various skills to appear); (b) the extent to which they taught various skills before school; and (c) the extent to which they perceived several qualities, once established, as stable over time. Variables were the child's gender, the child's birth order (first or not first to begin school), and the mother's ethnic background (Australian-born or Lebanese-born). Gender and birth order showed minimal effects; ethnicity had a strong effect in areas (a) and (b) but not (c). The results bring out the content of mothers' ideas, raise questions about factors affecting this content, and point to some aspects of mothers' ideas as inter-related.

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This article outlines the views of children and parents involved in family law disputes, about the need for and appropriateness of children's participation in decisions regarding residence and contact arrangements. Ninety parents and 47 children (ranging in age from 6 to 18 years) who had been through parental separation, were interviewed. Both parents and children had a range of views about the general appropriateness and fairness of children being involved, but the great majority, particularly of parents, thought that children should have a say in these matters. Core findings of the study include the considerable influence that older children had over the arrangements either in the aftermath of the separation or in making further changes over time, and the higher stated need of children who had experienced violence, abuse, or high levels of conflict to be heard than those in less problematic and noncontested matters. Parents involved in contested proceedings supported the participation of children at a younger age than those who were not. There was a reasonable degree of agreement between parents and children about the need for children to be acknowledged and the value of their views being heard in the decision-making process. Parents, however, expressed concern about the pressure and manipulation that children can face and exert in this process, whereas children were generally more concerned about the fairness of the outcomes, and maintaining their relationships with their parents and siblings.