Parent outrage grows over Tasmanian Government plan to lower school starting age
An online campaign builds against the Tasmanian Government's plans to lower the school starting age from the year children turn five to three-and-a-half.
View ArticleBaby born mid-air over Bass Strait during medical transfer
If your baby is premature and you are about to give birth on a plane during turbulence 21,000 feet over the sea, Peter James is the man you want at the business end.
View ArticleNo more births at Mersey Community Hospital as 'heartbroken' midwives mark...
Midwives are expressing mixed emotions after birthing services end at Mersey Community Hospital.
View ArticleFoster carers take in seven children a night as system struggles to keep up...
Tasmanian foster carers are taking in up to seven children a night as the system struggles to keep up with increasing demand, the sector says.
View ArticleLaunceston dentist and artist 'struggles with identity' as he lives double life
A Launceston dentist is living a double life as an artist.
View ArticleMigrant residents of of northern Tasmania look forward to more opportunities...
The state's northern immigrants are starting the new year with plans to forge ahead and make a difference.
View ArticleBooks get 'snip' of approval as Devonport children encouraged to read during...
Ten hairdressers in Devonport are being turned into 'reading salons' in a bid to encourage the city's children to read.
View ArticleTasmania's out of home care 'less than ideal parent' for some children,...
Tasmania's Children's Commissioner wants young people who have "first-hand experience" of the state's out of home care system to help reform the sector, which he says is failing some children.
View ArticleFarm's 'amaizing' maze shaped into map of Tasmania and carved out of maize crop
A Tasmanian farm has a new maze to entertain the kids, shaped into a crop of maize.
View ArticleSisters still growing popular garden their parents carved from thick...
Two sisters who were 'cultivated' along with a tourist attraction garden their parents established work together to continue the legacy.
View ArticleLogging industry is more than just 'cutting down trees' for Tasmanian family
Logging in Tasmania has been a highly controversial issue for a number of years, and the Hall family from the north-east of the state have seen the good and the bad.
View ArticleMum and legally blind daughter move back to familiar north east Tasmania
The lure of familiar surroundings of a country town was too much for mother and daughter.
View ArticlePremature babies gain comfort from crocheted octopuses, volunteers struggle...
The tight curls of a crocheted tentacle make a good umbilical cord substitute for the tiny hands of a premature baby.
View ArticleSame-sex marriage vote: Tasmanian students in drive to enrol ahead of plebiscite
Despite the fact the only mail she gets these days is "from my grandma", Victoria Eastoe and fellow students at a Tasmanian school will not let the unfamiliar voting method put them off having their...
View ArticleMalcolm Turnbull dodges same-sex marriage protest at Tasmanian Liberals...
The Prime Minister visits Tasmania to help rally the troops ahead of a looming state poll, managing to slip past same-sex marriage advocates only to cop it, albeit good naturedly, from a Liberal...
View ArticleSSM: Pizza shop Wiseguise makes 'light-hearted' change to No campaign...
The staff of a Tasmanian pizza shop alter the meaning of an No campaign billboard next to their business, a day after a Hobart hotel distanced itself from a similar advertisement atop its premises.
View ArticleChild protection staff shortages flagged on day baby Ariah McGillvery-Bourke...
Tasmanian child protection workers believe concerns about a seven-month-old baby were not properly followed up in the weeks before her death, according to newly revealed documents.
View ArticleTasmanian boy chokes on small ball, prompting outpouring of support and warning
The death of a young Tasmanian boy who choked on a bouncy ball from a party favour ahead of his fourth birthday celebration prompts an outpouring of grief and a warning for parents.
View ArticleHandcrafted with love: donating coffins for stillborn premature babies
Holly Mainsbridge was devastated by a tragic loss which affects one in four pregnancies, but a little box helped her to grieve. Now she wants other parents around Australia to have the same opportunity.
View ArticleDarryl Beaton, musical director to the stars, returns to where his journey began
Darryl Beaton left Devonport and became a sought after musician and musical director, working with Jess Mauboy, Delta Goodrem even Kanye West.
View ArticleSt Giles Launceston respite care centre closes as exposure to market forces...
A Launceston mother of two special needs children is concerned to see a local respite care centre close after it became "unviable" but the NDIA says the NDIS is not to blame.
View ArticlePoverty, lack of support hinder family reunifications when children removed...
Twenty per cent of Tasmanian mothers who have a child removed from their care will go on to experience further removals of their children by child protection workers, a study shows.
View ArticlePush to rid gender from birth certificates could have 'serious consequences',...
The Tasmanian Government says it does not support a proposal by the Greens to remove the sex of a child from birth certificates, saying "no other state or territory has taken the step".
View ArticleTasmania's pre-term birth rates highest in the country
Pregnant smokers will be targeted in a new program to reduce pre-term birth rates in Tasmania, with doctors saying one in three expectant mothers aged under 20 continue to smoke.
View ArticleMums taking time out from families to avoid 'parental burn-out'
Tasmanian mum Louise Elliot says taking a parental break "is 33 per cent for you and 66 per cent for your family" echoing experts who say it's important to down tools to avoid "burn-out".
View ArticleShould you let your kids skip school to be part of a political protest?
Students across Australia are taking time out of the classroom to rally for action on climate change. The PM wants "more learning" and "less activism in schools", but experts say it's "all part of a...
View ArticleChild protection services failed Tasmanian baby found dead on mattress,...
Failures by Child Safety Services contributed to the death of a baby girl who was asleep on a mattress in room where adults were using drugs, the Tasmanian coroner finds.
View ArticleProductivity Commission report shows Tasmania slow to act on child safety...
Data showing nearly 70 per cent of child protection investigations in Tasmania are not opened within 29 days is "damning" when the national average is 17 per cent, the State Opposition says.
View ArticleMissing boy found after rescue helicopter spots clothing and a shoe in...
The family of a seven-year-old boy with autism who was lost in bushland overnight in Tasmania's north-east thanks the volunteers who found him after spotting some clothing and a shoe from a helicopter.
View ArticleMidwife shortage forces Launceston Birth Centre to close doors after 35 years
Women wanting the option of not going to hospital to give birth in northern Tasmania are shocked that a lack of midwives is forcing the Launceston Birth Centre to close.
View ArticleTasmanian mother tells inquest she never expected father to kill their baby...
A Tasmanian woman tells an inquest into the death of a two-month-old girl that her ex-husband treated their infant daughter cruelly and she believes he caused her death.
View ArticleWomen need to boost iodine intake before pregnancy for optimal brain...
Taking an iodine supplement before conception as well as during pregnancy is vital to the development of a baby's brain, Tasmanian researchers find.
View ArticleWhen your sperm donor becomes part of the family: One couple's IVF success story
In Tasmania, sperm donors are so scarce IVF clinics are flying in supplies from California a same-sex couple on the waiting list shunned advice against a "known donor" to accept a friend's offer. Now,...
View ArticleLeeanne's adoption journey has spanned 25 years, three countries and four...
Mother-of-six Leeanne Reeves began her adoption journey 25 years ago, and says there were so many challenges and disappointments she nearly gave up. In her 50s, she moved to Ethiopia to adopt her two...
View ArticleLeaked child protection figures show quadrupling of at-risk kids in Tasmania...
Child protection workers are unable to deal with a blowout in the number of cases being reported in Tasmania and vulnerable kids are not getting the help they need, unions say.
View ArticleInclusive playground designs go beyond wheelchair swings so everyone can play
Playground designs are moving beyond the wheelchair swing as the push for inclusive play spaces drives new guidelines and community fundraising efforts across Australia.
View ArticleFoster care provider says it can't afford to sign up to redress scheme, faces...
A foster care provider slams a Tasmanian Government decision to cut funding to organisations that have a liability for child sexual abuse but fail to opt in to the National Redress Scheme.
View ArticleTasmania's Upper House on track to pass landmark legislation to make gender...
Landmark legislation making gender optional on birth certificates is set to pass the Tasmanian Parliament, after a mammoth debate to finalise amendments to the controversial bill.
View ArticleToys appearing on toddler's grave 134 years after his death, but no-one knows...
Herbert Henry Dicker died in 1885, when he was just two years old. Now, toys are being left on his grave and a local historian wants to solve the mystery.
View ArticleMystery behind toys appearing on toddler's 134-year-old grave at Hope Valley...
An Adelaide woman explains why she and her friends have been placing toys and flowers on the grave of a little boy who died in 1885, after a local historian could not solve the mystery.
View ArticleMum had her voices. And I had my tapes
My mum had paranoid schizophrenia, but we never called it that. We didn't even call it mental illness she was just 'sick'. I was an isolated kid with no way to cope until my cassette player opened a...
View ArticleBoy found on fire another example of Child Safety Service's failures,...
An eight-year-old boy who suffered burns to 30 per cent of his body and the death of a new-born baby, highlight continuing child protection failures, Tasmania's Opposition says.
View ArticleWhen parents feel maternity wards are 'production lines', a birth doula can...
Erin and James knew they didn't want a repeat of their first son's birth a cascade of interventions culminating in an emergency caesarean so they employed a doula and had a very different birth...
View ArticleMore funding needed to prevent Tasmanian children dying, abuse advocates warn
The relative of a baby who died, despite being known to Tasmanian child safety services, tells the Minister the child "is not something you can sweep under the carpet".
View ArticleDevelopmental delays in premature babies may last to school age, study shows
Five-year-old Amelia Pinkard survived against the odds, but research in developmental delays in premature babies suggest she may have more challenges ahead.
View Article'Nappy influencers' driving shift from disposables to cloth
If anybody has a reason to use disposable nappies, it's Amy and Justin Ward. As parents of triplets, they realised just how much waste they were generating and made the switch to cloth nappies.
View ArticleSame-sex couples dealing with IVF treatment model 'set up for heterosexuals'
Kate and Ange are expecting their first baby after two years of IVF treatment, but they say it was hard navigating a system "set up for heterosexual couples".
View Article125yo letter found under floor to be returned to writer's family after social...
Rex Nightingale was working to knock down a house in Hobart in 1960 when he found a letter from 1894 hidden under the linoleum. Now, 125 years after it was written, he finally has the chance to reunite...
View ArticleTasmanians celebrate gender law milestone
Controversial new laws allowing people to amend the gender on their birth certificate without reassignment surgery have come into effect, allowing people like Francene Jacques to be "buried an old woman".
View ArticleEducation program gives children from disadvantaged backgrounds access to...
Three-year-old Chase has come ahead in leaps and bounds in this past year, his family credits a program giving kids like him free access to early learning.
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