Cirrus@Austlit

In this column by Elissa Lawrence, Mem Fox is quoted as saying that 'putting very young babies into childcare is a form of child abuse...' Her comment, picked up by news services and published in interstate and overseas papers, prompted passionate debate on the pros and cons of child care in Australia. In an article published in the Herald Sun, 6 September 2008, 'Someone has to Speak Up for the Babies' , Mem Fox defended her comments. However, on the 24 October 2008 the debate was revived in an article by Matthew Fynes-Clinton, 'Care 'Damages' Babies', published in the Courier Mail and the Advertiser. In this article Fox was said to have likened placing babies in long day care to 'maltreating the family puppy' and that she had 'no special affinity with small children'. Fox countered with a letter to the Courier Mail, 27 October 2008, and addressed the subject on her website. The articles in the Sunday Mail of 31 August, the Courier Mail and the Advertiser of 24 October, and articles and correspondence published in newspapers on the matter by Mem Fox herself are indexed in AustLit. Users are referred to online newspaper sources for further information.