Family: Overview : SBS Insight

Overview

What's it like growing up in not your 'typical' family?

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We hear from young people who’ve grown up in not your usual types of Australian families, to see how they’re turning out.

While the nuclear family is still seen as the norm in Australia, population statistics show that’s changing, and "couple families with children" are no longer the majority household in Australia.

Thousands of kids are growing up without both their biological mum and dad around.

Some have two mums or two dads, others have been adopted from overseas or lived with a grandparent, some were conceived using donor sperm, or were raised in foster care.

Recently the idea of what makes a normal family was hotly debated in Queensland, as the State government legalised surrogacy, extending those rights to single people and same sex couples.

Critics argued that a child’s fundamental right to enter the world with both and mother and a father is being denied.

Insight will hear directly from the children of these families.

We will be joined by young people aged between 13 and 25 who’ve grown up without both their biological mother and father around. We’ll be finding out how their family works, and asking if they’ve missed out on anything because of it.

Meet the Guests

Ruby and Emily

Ruby and Emily may not be biologically related but to each other they will always be sisters. Born only months apart, they grew up in a commune, outside Seymour, Victoria, where everyone’s family.

Mali and Johti

Mali and Johti were both adopted from India and raised in an alternative community, near Lismore. They wouldn’t change their upbringing but it made things interesting when they went to a Catholic private school in their teens.

Menaka

13 year old Menaka is also originally from India, living in Mount Gambier, South Australia with her adopted parents and sister Ashy. Menaka describes her family as a typical one that just looks a little different.

Oliver

Oliver’s mum made the decision to have Oliver on her own through donor insemination. He’s gotten to know his donor dad over the years and would describe him more as a friend than a relation.

Eamon

Eamon has four mums. His two original mums had him using donor insemination. They split up when Eamon was a toddler, and have both since found new partners. Eamon says he has great relationships with all of them, and they regularly get together for a meal.

Calum

After his mum and dad split when he was very young, 14 year old Calum has been raised by his mum and her female partner since he was about 18-months old. He sees this as perfectly normal.