The ObserverParents and parentingA recent study found that children raised by lesbian couples were often brighter, happier and more confident than kids brought up in more traditional family units. Here, four women-only households describe their experiences of parenthood – and why tolerance and honesty are the keyDo lesbian mums make the best parents? According to research released earlier this year, children raised by two mothers do better academically, have higher self-esteem and are less likely to have behavioural problems than peers who have been brought up in a family with two heterosexual parents.

Hurricane KatrinaThe non-profit project was launched to feverish buzz with support of celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Ellen DeGeneres to Bill Clinton For Hurricane Katrina survivors in the Lower Ninth Ward, it had seemed like a prayer answered: in 2006, Brad Pitt announced an initiative to rebuild New Orleans’ storm-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward with sustainable, flood-proof, affordable homes, designed by a list of A-list architects. The 109 homes on offer would give many survivors a chance to become first-time homeowners, and bring back a community devastated by the hurricane.

FamilyParents lose custody of girl for naming her Talula Does the Hula From HawaiiA nine-year-old girl whose parents named her Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii was put into court guardianship in New Zealand so that her name could be changed. A family court judge, Rob Murfitt, gave the order after hearing that the child was embarrassed about her name and had refused to reveal it to friends. "She told people her name was K because she feared being mocked and teased,"

Carol Rumens's poem of the weekPoetryPoem of the week: Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances EW HarperA free African American woman, Harper wrote this intensely felt vision of intolerable injustice for campaigning journal the Anti-Slavery Bugle in 1858 Bury Me in a Free Land Make me a grave where’er you will, In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill; Make it among earth’s humblest graves, But not in a land where men are slaves.

The ObserverUS news This article is more than 15 years oldDrugs kidnap of child shocks USThis article is more than 15 years oldDesperate search for six-year-old as Mexican cartels bring bloody vendetta to Las VegasCole Puffinburger is the latest victim in a war that has claimed 3,700 lives this year. Photograph: APPolice in the United States are desperately searching for a six-year-old boy after he was taken from his home at gunpoint four days ago by three men posing as police.