The Modern Defence Family

DFA recognises that the Modern Defence Family consists of many different arrangements including single parents, blended families and non-custodial parents.

In January 2011,  there were approximately 30,000 recognised partners of members of the Australian Defence Force, including same sex couples, by either recognised de facto relationships or marriage.

ADF members have over 18,000 children under the age of 18 years old in their custody.

An increasing trend, due to policy changes, were that 5.89% of families were classified as Member With Dependants – Unaccompanied (MWD-U), meaning that the family lived in another location to the ADF member.
 

There are more than 24000 ADF members classified without dependants, including non-custodial parents. Around 400 members have classified their parents as their dependants.

Download the 2009 ADF Family Survey Report published by the Defence Community Organisation.

View the latest Australian published research articles on Military Families compiled by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Defence Anglicans has a list of recent overseas and Australian articles.