Category Archives: Parents and parenting

Germany’s CDU party chair resigns after using surrogacy to become parent

Posted on by

Jens Spahn had criticised ‘rented wombs’ and his party is strongly opposed to surrogacy, which is banned in Germany

A senior German politician and ally of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has resigned as chair of the Christian Democrat (CDU) party after he and his husband used a surrogate mother to become parents, a practice he has criticised in the past and his party is vehemently opposed to.

Surrogacy is banned in Germany, a policy Jens Spahn refused to relax when he was health minister in 2020, so he and his husband, Daniel Funke, used a surrogate mother in the US.

Continue reading...

Screen time can damage under-twos’ development, landmark study suggests

Posted on by

Exclusive: Researchers call for urgent investigation of risks to babies of tablets, smartphones and other digital devices

Screen time for babies and toddlers under the age of two has been linked with long-term negative effects on health and quality of life and should be avoided, according to a landmark study.

It warns that using screens during that period may lead to wide-ranging developmental concerns and calls for further urgent investigation of the risks smartphones, tablets and other digital devices pose to infants.

Continue reading...

Inquest into Melbourne influencer’s death following freebirth halted after new phone evidence discovered

Posted on by

Coroner tells inquiry new material ‘of such significance’ any findings must be postponed so information can be analysed

The closing submissions in an inquest into the death of a woman who gave birth at home with no support from medically trained health workers has been delayed, after new evidence came to light after a forensic analysis of her mobile phone.

Stacey Warnecke, a 30 year-old nutritionist, died on 29 September in Frankston hospital in Melbourne.

Continue reading...

Delivery pain for UK dad as baby magazine arrives 19 years late

Posted on by

Paul Edwards ordered the publication before the birth of his son in 2007, but experienced pregnant pause before receiving it this week

When Paul Edwards ordered a parenting magazine in 2007, he was hoping that it would provide helpful advice and offers to help him navigate the stresses and challenges of bringing up children.

However the magazine never arrived – until now. The copy of Mother & Baby was delivered on Friday – 19 years after he ordered it – with his children now studying at university.

Continue reading...

Michelle Obama: white men do not have to worry about impostor syndrome

Posted on by

Former US first lady says she has sat ‘at every powerful table’ and not met a single white man with such doubts

White men do not have to worry about impostor syndrome, according to Michelle Obama, who said she had sat “at every powerful table there is” and not found one.

The former US first lady told SXSW London that she wanted to “demystify” what it was like to sit in elite meetings, which she said were often populated by people from diverse backgrounds who felt like outsiders.

Continue reading...

Prolific unregulated sperm donor loses UK legal fight to be named as child’s father

Posted on by

Robert Albon cannot be declared four-year-old’s father because he ran illegal sperm donation business, court rules

A prolific unregulated sperm donor described in the high court as a “highly dangerous man” has lost a legal fight to be named as the father of a child conceived using his sperm.

Robert Albon, who calls himself Joe Donor, was not entitled to be declared the father of a four-year-old child because he was running an illegal sperm donation business, Britain’s most senior family court judge ruled.

Continue reading...

Japan allows divorced couples to negotiate joint custody of children for first time

Posted on by

The new rules are the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century

Divorced couples in Japan will be able to negotiate joint custody of their children from Wednesday, in the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century.

Previously, Japan’s Civil Code required couples to decide which parent would take custody of their children when they divorce.

Continue reading...

Most gen Z fathers in Australia believe it’s solely their job to provide financially, research finds

Posted on by

Survey also found 65% of gen Z think ‘things are better if men do paid work and women do care work’

Younger fathers are more likely to cling to outdated ideas that frame men as the money earners and women as caregivers, new research has found.

The Australian State of the World’s Fathers report is based on a global survey of 8,000 parents, with 533 from Australia.

Continue reading...

‘Loud and proud’: UK summit kicks off new conversation for working dads

Posted on by

Organisers of event urge fathers to push for more equal parental rights in face of Britain’s current poor offering

“Who’s in your team?” asked Elliott Rae, pumping up the crowd in central London at what he billed as the world’s first Working Dads’ summit. “Who’s your goalkeeper, your defender, your striker? Do you have a full 11? Do you have subs on the bench?.”

Football analogies are generally rare at events about parenting, particularly those that seek to tackle gender equality. But then, so are men. At the Working Dads’ summit – almost certainly the first in the UK – both were in plentiful supply, as fathers were urged to “create a new idea of masculinity”.

Continue reading...

Third of UK parents have sought special needs assessment for their child, survey finds

Posted on by

Parentkind charity also says 33% of parents of children with special educational needs reported financial strain

One in three parents have sought a special needs assessment for their child, according to a survey that reveals a surge in demand for special needs support in schools across the UK.

The figures were released amid mounting apprehension in England over national plans to reform special needs provision amid rising costs and a severe shortage of dedicated special school places.

Continue reading...

Victorian Liberal members to push for regulated cannabis market at state council

Posted on by

Proposal to treat cannabis similarly to alcohol among 62 policy motions on draft agenda, alongside increased parental leave and scrapping net zero

Rank-and-file Victorian Liberal party members will use this month’s state council meeting to push for a regulated cannabis market for adult use, overhaul heritage and planning laws to tackle the housing crisis and introduce a full year of parental leave with a “daddy quota”.

The motions are among 62 on the draft agenda for the Victorian Liberal state council – the party’s annual general meeting – on 12-13 September. Other motions include proposals to scrap net zero targets, renters’ rights reforms and diversity quotas.

Continue reading...

UK mothers earn £302 a week less than fathers, analysis shows

Posted on by

ONS data shows they are working for free from 1 September, almost three months earlier than Equal Pay Day for all women

Women with children earn £302 less every week than men with children: one-third less per week and almost 20% less per hour, according to analysis based on ONS data.

This means that Mums’ Equal Pay Day falls on 1 September this year, almost three months earlier than Equal Pay Day for all women. From this date, mothers are working for free for the rest of the year compared with fathers.

Continue reading...

Verbally abused children more likely to have poor mental health as adults, study finds

Posted on by

Analysis suggests long-term damage to wellbeing can be worse than for children experiencing physical abuse

Parents who ridicule, threaten or humiliate their children risk leaving them with a 64% higher chance of having poor mental health as an adult, a study has found.

The research also found physical abuse experienced among the research participants reduced over time, while verbal abuse increased.

Continue reading...

Fathers plan legal action to get smartphones banned in England’s schools

Posted on by

Two fathers tell education secretary they will seek judicial review in bid for statutory ban to safeguard children

Two fathers plan to take legal action against the government in an attempt to get smartphones banned in schools in England.

Will Orr-Ewing and Pete Montgomery wrote to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, on Friday warning that they would seek a judicial review. They argue that current guidance, which allows headteachers to decide how smartphones are used, is unlawful and unsafe for children.

Continue reading...

Parents in Britain to be granted bereavement leave after miscarriage

Posted on by

Mothers and partners will gain the legal right if they lose a baby before 24 weeks, in Labour workers’ rights reform

Parents in Britain will be granted the right to bereavement leave after suffering a miscarriage as part of Labour’s changes to workers’ rights, it has been confirmed.

In a change to the law made via amendments to the employment rights bill, mothers and their partners will be given the legal right to at least one week’s bereavement leave if they have suffered a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks’ gestation.

Continue reading...

The Netherlands’ world-leading postnatal care facing crisis, unions warn

Posted on by

Kraamzorg system, where care assistants visit new mothers at home, is threatened by labour shortage and competition

A key pillar of Dutch maternity services that has led to the Netherlands being hailed as a world leader in postnatal care is under threat, healthcare unions in the country have warned.

The Netherlands has long prided itself on its unique system of kraamzorg (maternity care), whereby a maternity care assistant comes to a new family’s home for eight days after a baby’s birth, caring for mother and infant.

Continue reading...

‘Dad strikes’ in London and Edinburgh demand better paternity leave

Posted on by

Hundreds of fathers protest with children to call for two weeks’ statutory paternity leave to be increased

Hundreds of fathers took to the streets of London and Edinburgh on Wednesday to demand better paternity leave, in a protest that was billed as the world’s first dad strike.

They came with babies in papooses and pushchairs, as they brandished placards and dad jokes to call for an overhaul of the meanest paternity leave system in Europe.

Continue reading...

Japan introduces rules to put outlandish baby names to bed

Posted on by

The change is designed to halt the use of kirakira (shiny or glittery) names that have proliferated among parents hoping to add a creative flourish

Parents in Japan will no longer have free rein over the names they give their children, after the introduction this week of new rules on the pronunciation of kanji characters.

The change is designed to halt the use of kirakira (shiny or glittery) names that have proliferated among parents hoping to add a creative flourish to their children’s names – creating administrative headaches for local authorities and, in some cases, inviting derision from classmates.

Continue reading...

Being shouted at by parents can alter child’s brain, experts tell UK MPs

Posted on by

Meeting will hear how exposure to verbal abuse leads to biological changes and can make mental ill-health likelier

Being shouted at by their parents reshapes children’s brains and makes them more likely to have mental ill-health and struggle to maintain friendships, MPs will hear on Monday.

Verbal abuse by adults can leave children unable to enjoy pleasure and seeing the world as threatening, experts in child development and mental health will tell a meeting at Westminster.

Continue reading...

Woman becomes first UK womb transplant recipient to give birth

Posted on by

Grace Davidson gives birth to baby Amy Isabel after receiving her sister’s womb in 2023

Surgeons are hailing an “astonishing” medical breakthrough as a woman became the first in the UK to give birth after a womb transplant.

Grace Davidson, 36, who was a teenager when diagnosed with a rare condition that meant she did not have a uterus, said she and her husband, Angus, 37, had been given “the greatest gift we could ever have asked for”.

Continue reading...