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This article reflects on the experience of undertaking a knowledge exchange project with a local government authority to improve services for older lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) adults. It frames this project in terms of local government equality work, existing research and initiatives concerning older LGBT people and the coming of austerity. The project methodology is detailed, including discussion of the generation and measurement of impact. Some critical issues that arose during the project are considered, including suggestions that these may have been related to economic austerity. The article concludes that although knowledge exchange work with older LGBT people faces challenges in such times, future research and initiatives are warranted.

This article seeks to extend work in the growing sociology of adulthood. It considers the debate that young people in the UK and other advanced industrial societies now face challenges to their adulthood; in particular, that they experience problems of social recognition. Using membership categorisation analysis (MCA) the article then illustrates how members of a sample of 23 young people who had taken a gap year, a break in their educational careers taken between leaving school/college and university, use talk about changes in their relationships with their parents during this period of their lives to accomplish an adult identity in their current context. The article considers the ramifications of these findings and the consequences for studying adulthood more generally.

This article reviews the development of men and family relationship services in Australia from a practice perspective. Significant milestones in increasing the range and diversity of services for men have been achieved since 1998, when the first National Men and Family Relationships Conference was held in Canberra. Eight principles for successful practice in working with men are identified, along with the challenges faced by the sector.

One of the highlights of the 1990s has been the greater recognition of the role of fatherhood by government departments, media organisations and community services. However this apparent embrace of fathering also reveals an underlying tension. This paper reflects on Burnside's extensive experience in developing father-valuing programs that support children and families within disadvantaged communities. As practitioners, the need for quick decision making may result in the resources which fathers (within separated or intact families) can offer being overlooked. Drawing on current USA research into non-deficit approaches to fathering, the paper recognises a variety of assumptions, which reduce the resources that fathers provide. Due to socialisation, Australian males often display a healthy dose of suspicion and mistrust of authority figures. Because of this, it is important for professionals to maximise the initial period of engagement when they have contact with a family. A variety of case studies are used to examine the challenge of engaging fathers in the process of strengthening family systems.