More than 200,000 Irish young people are to be asked by the Children's Ombudsman to identify issues and address problems that concern them.

A report, commissioned by the Ombudsman for Children's Office (OCO), has recommended that the Constitution be amended to explicitly confer legal rights on children. Prepared by Dr Ursula Kilkelly, of University College Cork, the report, Obstacles to the Realisation of Children's Rights in Ireland, identified what it claims are six ‘impediments’ to the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The decision by the Gardaí not to allow a Sikh man to wear a turban as a Guard was not a religious decision, according to the force. In a detailed statement, the Gardaí Síochána said that a desire to retain “an image of impartiality” was the reason behind the decision to retain a uniform dress code.

Irish couples married for over 11 years are the most likely to get divorced, according to new figures from the Court Service 2006 Annual Report. Just over a quarter of couples applying for divorce were married for between 11-15 years and one-fifth of divorce applications were granted to couples who had been married for between 16-20 years, the report says.

Teen happiness is not linked to sex, drugs and rock and roll, but family and friends, according to a new survey. The poll, carried out by the the Associated Press and MTV, found that the most common answer among teenagers when asked “What makes you happy” was spending time with family.

A branch of the YMCA in the US has been forced to recognise gay and lesbian civil partnerships as families for the purpose of membership after a lesbian couple made a complaint to a human rights commission in their state. The couple have taken a case against the charity.

A Catholic school whose headmaster has entered into a civil partnership with another male teacher cannot fire him, according to the Archdiocese of Liverpool. The Archdiocese, which runs St Cecilia's Primary School, at the centre of the story, said that it has received legal advice on the matter.

The Government plans to use school buildings are to be used to provide thousands of childcare places for children of school-going age. Brendan Smith, the Minister for Children said the Department of Education and school boards of management will begin talks as part of a drive to provide between 5,000 and 10,000 new school-age childcare places.

The Government should give tax incentives to encourage "at least one parent to remain at home with babies and young children", according to a prominent Catholic bishop.

One of Canada's top lawyers has recommended Canadian courts be asked to rule on the constitutionality of the country's long-standing laws against polygamy, officials said on Wednesday. It is the latest attempt in Canada to radically redefine marriage.

There are only a small increase in the number of divorces last year according to the Central Statistics Office. The new data shows that there were 3,466 divorces granted in 2006, compared with 3,411 in 2005. The number of judicial separations granted also increased, but by a larger amount, from 973 in 2005 to 1099 in 2006.

The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have given a cautious welcome to a report which proposes new rights for cohabitees. The report by the Law Commission, an independent body which advised the UK Government on legal reform, has proposed give unmarried couples divorce-like rights, should they split up after a minimum period.

An influential law commission in the UK has recommended that unmarried couples who split up be given the right to make divorce-style claims for financial support from their partners. The commission has concluded that couples with children, or those who have been living together for a minimum period should be able to seek most of the same financial remedies as people going through a divorce.

A child at the centre of a surrogacy battle is to be taken from the natural mother who has brought him up for 17 months and given to the couple with whom she made the agreement.

In a major electoral shock, prominent family values campaigner Ronan Mullen has been elected to the Senate. Describing his win as "a triumph for positive values”, Mr Mullen said that he would now dedicate himself to “carefully scrutinising legislation” for its impact on families.

Archbishop Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, has warned the Government not to undermine marriage by legalising gay marriage “in all but name”. Dr Brady, the President of the Irish Bishop's Conference, was reacting to comments last week by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, in which he said that the Government would legalise gay civil unions “at the earliest opportunity”.

The Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, has been found guilty of unlawful discrimination after he refused a gay man a youth official's job on the diocesan board of finance. Gay campaigners have called on the Bishop to resign in the wake of the tribunal ruling.

A man who acted as a sperm donor to a lesbian couple, resulting in the birth of a boy, now one year old is seeking joint custody of the child. The case has potentially wide-ranging implications as it may mean recognising for the first time that sperm-donors have rights to their children. The case may also see an Irish court recognise for the first time that a child has a right to know its biological parents even when the parent is a sperm or egg donor.

A new majority of US working mothers would be happiest in part-time jobs, with fewer seeing full-time work as an ideal, according to a new study. In 1997, 48 per cent of working mothers expressed this preference. Now, 60 percent of employed mothers find part-time work most appealing, a 12 per cent jump in 10 years.

However only 24 percent of them actually have part-time hours, according to labour statistics, and mothers working part time have not increased in number in the last decade.
Some experts see the report, by the nonprofit Pew Research Center, as reflecting a convergence of trends in family life: workplace policies that have been slow to accommodate parents at a time when raising children has become a more intensive, involved enterprise.

Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit research group based in New York, believes that a new generation of working mothers have different attitudes about work to their mothers.

"We found that the younger people are more family-centric than boomers are," Galinsky said. "Most young people have seen someone lose their job, and they have lived through 9/11. It's not that they don't want to work. They just want to work more flexibly."

The Pew study of mothers found that the appeal of part-time work crossed income and education divides.

One of the biggest attitude changes was found among unmarried mothers. A decade ago, 49 percent preferred full-time hours. In ten years, that number has nearly halved. Now only 26 percent of unmarried mothers wanted full-time hours as against part time work, A plurality of unmarried mothers, 46 percent, think part-time work is the best option.

Overall, mothers working part time were also the most likely to identify their current working situation as the most desirable, with 80 percent saying so. Fathers, by comparison, were far more interested in full-time work -- with 72 percent citing it as an ideal.

The study also offered a glimpse into how mothers view their own parenting. Just 28 percent of the mothers surveyed who work full time gave themselves the highest rating as a parent; 41 percent of mothers working part time and 43 percent of stay-at-home mothers gave themselves top marks.

In another comparison, mothers with college degrees did not rate themselves as highly as those with some time in college; mothers with a high school education or less gave themselves the highest scores. Mothers overall rated themselves higher as parents than fathers rated themselves.

The Pew findings were based on a nationally representative survey of 414 mothers, done as part of a larger study on marriage and children released July 1.

19/07/07