Barnardo's Australia came into being around 1995. It was formerly known as Dr Barnardos in Australia. It provides a wide range of child welfare and family services in New South Wales including children's family centres, permanency programs for 'out-of-home' care, including adoption, adolescent services and advocacy work.
Barnardo's is a not-for-profit non-government organisation. The organisation takes its direction from the work of its founder, Dr Thomas Barnardo, who set up some of the first child welfare institutions in the United Kingdom.
Barnardos' work in Australia began in the early 1920s, when Dr Barnardo's agencies in the UK sent their first child migrants to Australia. From the 1950s Barnardo's added a range of schemes to assist children, families and young people. Barnardo's stopped its involvement with child migration by the 1970s and its website states that it now recognises the destructive effects of child migration and has worked with the Child Migrants Trust to support former child migrants.
Barnardos Aftercare Services for ex-child migrants is operated through Barnardos' Head Office at Bay St. Barnardos recognises its responsibility to adults who have been past clients of the agency and provides ongoing support, information and counselling.
Barnardos Australia has a Welfare Director and an Aftercare Co-ordinator who deal with enquiries from ex-clients of Barnardos. They are available to visit clients (where practical), to correspond with clients, to provide welfare and migration advice, counselling and referral to appropriate services where necessary.
1883 - 1966 Dr Barnardo's Homes (Australia Branch)
1966 - c. 1995 Dr Barnardos in Australia
c. 1995 - Barnardos Australia
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Oranges and Sunshine', in Barnardos Australia: We Believe in Children: History, Barnardos Australia, 2013, http://web.archive.org/web/20130430050808/https://www.barnardos.org.au/barnardos/html/oranges_and_sunshine.cfm; 'Child migration', in Barnardos Australia: We Believe in Children: History, Barnardos Australia, c. 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20210411042005/https://www.barnardos.org.au/about-us/history/child-migration-program/; 'History', in Barnardos Australia: We Believe in Children, Barnardos Australia, c. 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20210411043542/https://www.barnardos.org.au/about-us/history/; Barnardos Australia: We Belive in Children, Barnardos Australia, c.2014, http://www.barnardos.org.au/; 'Barnardos work with local children', in Barnardos Australia: We Believe in Children: History, Barnardos Australia, c.2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20210411042559/https://www.barnardos.org.au/about-us/history/barnardos-work-with-local-children/; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 17 March 2011, Last modified: 28 January 2015
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00292b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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