This conference will be of interest to practitioners, researchers and policy makers and the mass media who are interested in Family policy and wellbeing especially on how Blended families and Step families are faring in todays society.

This form of family termed the blended family is the most predominant family structure in USA today. This is also the trend in most Westernized countries like Australia. With increasing modernization, many Asian countries like Malaysia may also be going in this direction.

This newly emerging phenomenon in Malaysia (and in other Asian countries) is because many modern women are tied to the idea of monogamous marriages and no longer accepting of polygamy. So when their first marriage breaks down, they opt to marry other men who may have been married before and have children of his own. Hence their new marriage under monogamy, creates a combination of two families.

Despite this new emerging trend, there are hardly any research in Malaysia on this topic of Blended Families nor there exists any government policy or program dealing specifically with this type of family institution. Hence this conference, spearheaded by Asia Pacific Forum on Families (APFAM), will be the first to address this issue. It will therefore be a trailblazer to attract attention and interest to this matter.

The conference will present an overview of Australian and other countries Government policies on this family-type as well as research findings on outcomes for children in families where one child is the biological or step child of one of the adult couple. How these families fare in relation to Social inclusion, community connectedness as well as economic, social and educational outcomes will be explored. The conference will also identify exemplary support programs for families.

Sub-themes of the conference:

• Family Policy - countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Malaysia
• Family structures, change and diversity - definitions, statistics, case studies
• Outcomes for families
• Social inclusion
• Family violence
• Disability and families
• Experience of children - e.g. educational, economic, social, development
• Exemplar Programs for families

Programme:
Tentative Conference Program

Registration:
The rates for participation are as follows:

1. APFAM members: RM100.00
2. Non-APFAM members: RM120.00
3. Students: RM50.00
4. Organisations: RM200.00 per person
5. Organisations sending more than 4 participants: RM150.00 per person

Conference Registration Form

Posted on: Tue, 19 October 2010