Organisation State Children's Relief Department (1881 - 1923)

From

1881

To

1923

Categories

Adoption Agency, Care Provider, Foster Care and Government Department

Alternative Names

• SCRD
• State Children's Relief Board

Summary

The State Children's Relief Department was the public service body responsible for implementing the recommendations of the State Children's Relief Board. It was part of the Chief Secretary's Department, under the control of the Premier.

The State Children's Relief Department supervised all children taken into state care, whether they were boarded out (fostered), apprenticed, informally 'adopted' or placed in institutional care. It also supervised boarding out payments to destitute mothers. The key personnel were the boarding out officers and inspectors and, after Children's Courts were introduced, probation officers. The Department also relied on local networks of lady visitors and priests to supervise children.

The titles 'State Children's Relief Board' and 'State Children's Relief Department' mean the same thing and both may appear in the records. Generally, the word Department refers to the staff (the public servants), while the word Board describes the people who made the decisions about the running of this agency. In Find and Connect, we use the term 'State Children's Relief Board' to cover all the functions of this agency. Please refer to that entry for further information.