Suellen Murray – författare

''This important and illuminating book provides a powerful and harrowing depiction of the inadequacies of the Australian welfare system. Its findings challenge the foundations and direction of the welfare reform agenda.'' - Professor Peter Saunders, University of New South Wales''This major new study challenges many myths about life on welfare and in low paid work. It should be read by anyone concerned with welfare reform.'' - Jane Millar, Professor of Social Policy, University of BathWhat is it really like to be unemployed and on welfare? How do you make ends meet? Does the welfare system actually help people get back into jobs?Half a Citizen draws on in-depth interviews with 150 welfare recipients to reveal people struggling to get by on a low income, the anxieties of balancing paid work with income support, and how unstable housing makes it difficult to get ahead.By investigating the lives beyond the statistics, Half a Citizen also explodes powerful myths and assumptions on which welfare policy is based. The majority of welfare recipients interviewed are very active, in paid work, caring for children or for other family members, and they see themselves as contributing and participating citizens, even if they sometimes feel they are being treated as ''half a citizen''. These stories of resilience and passion bear no resemblance to the clich d images of dependence, laziness, and social isolation which underpin social policy and media debate.

''This important and illuminating book provides a powerful and harrowing depiction of the inadequacies of the Australian welfare system. Its findings challenge the foundations and direction of the welfare reform agenda.'' - Professor Peter Saunders, University of New South Wales''This major new study challenges many myths about life on welfare and in low paid work. It should be read by anyone concerned with welfare reform.'' - Jane Millar, Professor of Social Policy, University of BathWhat is it really like to be unemployed and on welfare? How do you make ends meet? Does the welfare system actually help people get back into jobs?Half a Citizen draws on in-depth interviews with 150 welfare recipients to reveal people struggling to get by on a low income, the anxieties of balancing paid work with income support, and how unstable housing makes it difficult to get ahead.By investigating the lives beyond the statistics, Half a Citizen also explodes powerful myths and assumptions on which welfare policy is based. The majority of welfare recipients interviewed are very active, in paid work, caring for children or for other family members, and they see themselves as contributing and participating citizens, even if they sometimes feel they are being treated as ''half a citizen''. These stories of resilience and passion bear no resemblance to the clich d images of dependence, laziness, and social isolation which underpin social policy and media debate.

This book explores care-leavers’ access to their personal records. People who grew up in care in previous decades may know little about their family nor understand why they were placed in care nor how decisions were made about their lives. Personal records can be a source of this information. Murray posits that it is crucial that those releasing these records understand their significance. Taking a person-centred approach, the book is based on the moving life history accounts of people who have sought their records. Finding Lost Childhoods highlights the importance of records to their identity formation, recounts what they discovered about themselves and their family, and discusses the consequences of finding this information.

 With a focus on policy and practice implications, the book will be of particular interest to those engaged in the work of releasing records, as well as care-leavers themselves, professional bodies, and students and scholars with an interest in social work, policy studies, welfare studies and youth work.