You might get more responses in rec.photo.digital
Only cross-posts and spam usually appear hear.
This newsgroup (r.p.digital.zlr) has had little traffic since the
initial flurry of posting after it was created and people realised that
after the Olympus e-20n there would never be any more ZLR cameras made.
I keep a subscription to this NG so that I can "do the right thing" and
steer newcomers to a more appropriate one.

In addition to my DSLR, I have the Panasonic TZ3:

 http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/

chosen for it's 28-280mm zoom, with image stabilisation, and compact size.
The more recent and current model is the TZ5:

 http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz5/

As with any camera, specifying your needs more closely, or actually
handling the camera in the shop, may help refine your choice.

Cheers,
David

you could try the canon g9 or g10 , they both do raw

Flash is very useful for freezing action of active children indoors
while getting enough light to get a good depth of field. So why not
invest in a powerful remotely triggered flash you can simply stand in
a corner and bounce off the ceiling? It would be handy if the camera
in hand had a built in flash you could use dialled down in power as a
fill in. That could optically trigger the big one.