Abstract

We are very confused in Australia about the point of entry to adulthood, with different age ranges for different government programs existing side-by-side. Under the Federal Labor Government's Youth Homeless allowance, it was possible for children as young as 13 years to live independently with only minimal supervision from State Welfare departments. In 1989 The Burdekin Inquiry into youth homelessness together with a series of well publicised failures by child welfare authorities was partly responsible for a new protocol by the Federal-State Council of Social Welfare Ministers which increased the level of supervision of young ‘independent’; children, and thereby appeared to raise the threshold age for adulthood. The most important mechanism for the transition to independence and to adulthood is work and the level of youth unemployment (triple the national average between 15–19 years) is also extending dependency and thus, childhood. The trend towards the extension of childhood dependency received formal sanction through the Coalition Government's Youth Allowance which now makes it possible for a child to remain dependent on his or her parents until age 25 years.