List of Categories

A
Advocacy Body
An Advocacy Body is a group formed by people who share concerns around a particular issue, in this case child welfare, and who seek to raise the priority of their concerns on the public and/or government agendas.
Amending Act
An Amending Act is a law passed to amend (change) another law. Amending Acts can change original pieces of legislation (Principal Acts) or they can change previous Amending Acts.
Anglican
The term Anglican describes a person or orgnisation affiliated with the Anglican Church.
B
Baptist
The term Baptist describes a person or organisation affiliated with the Baptist Church.
C
Care Provider
Care provider is an umbrella term that refers to the group or organisation responsible for providing and administering out-of-home 'care' for children. Although this term was not in common usage before the late twentieth century, this website applies it to describe all organisations which operated 'care' services, no matter when they were active.
Catholic
The term Catholic describes a person or organisation affiliated with the Catholic Church. With child welfare, services were often clustered under the umbrella terms of Protestant and Catholic.
Children's Home
Children's Home is a term used to describe institutions providing out-of-home 'care' for children. The term was commonly used during the period from the 1920s to the 1970s.
Church
Church is a general term which may be applied to any number of (usually Christian) religious groups. The phrase 'the church' usually refers to the official opinion, policy or practice of a particular denomination.
Community Service Organisation
Community Service Organisations, or CSOs are privately run groups, often with a religious affiliation, which provide services to the community, including services to support families and out-of-home ‘care’ programs. In some states and territories, including New South Wales, such organisations are known as Non-Government Organisations, or NGOs. Although they are private organisations, they may receive some funding from government to provide particular services.
Cottage Care
Cottage care was a model of institutional 'care' which began in the United Kingdom in the late nineteenth century. Along with 'boarding out', cottage home accommodation was seen as an alternative to large scale dormitory-style accommodation (although cottage homes could house up to 40 children).
Cottage Home
The term Cottage Home refers to an institution which provided residential 'care' for children under the cottage care, or 'family cottage' model.
D
Diocese
A Diocese is the district or area under the control of a particular Bishop of a specific Church.
Disability Institution
Disability Institution is an umbrella term used to describe an institution (or other residential program) which provided services to children with special needs, specifically those considered to be living with intellectual, physical and mental disabilities.
F
Family Group Home
Family Group Home is the name given to a model of 'care' where small groups of children are accommodated in buildings that approximate the size and form of a average family home. They began to appear in as a form of 'care' in Australia from the late 1940s, following concerns about the lack of individual attention given to children in large-scale institutions. Family Group Homes could be run by government departments or by non-government organisations. In Tasmania, Family Group Homes were not introduced until about 1980. In Tasmania, Family Group Homes run by the Social Welfare Department provided temporary 'care' for children.
Female Rescue Home
Female Rescue Homes' began as institutions associated with the female rescue movement which was based on Evangelical Christian principles, and aimed to reform 'fallen women' (women engaged in prostitution) through a combination of prayer and hard work. The operations of the female rescue homes in Australia were not limited to the rescue of fallen women. Increasingly, these homes catered to single mothers and their babies. Some female rescue homes specialised in women with particular difficulties, such as alcohol and drug dependency, or women released from prison. Despite the evolution of this type of institution from the 1850s, the term 'female rescue home' was still in use in some states in the mid-twentieth century.
Foster Care
Foster Care is a method of out-of-home 'care' provided to children and young people who are temporarily or permanently unable to live with their families of origin. Foster care places these children in private family homes.
G
Government Agency
A Government Agency is an organisation or service provider directly under the control of and funded by a state or federal government.
Government Department
A Government Department is a group of public servants organised to administer a particular area of government activity, under the control of a minister.
Government-run
The term 'Government-run' is used to describe an organisation or activity for which a government (usually State, Territory or Federal) is directly responsible.
H
Home
The term Home is used to describe any institution that accommodated children, for example, orphanages, children's Homes, disability institutions, family group homes, hospitals and juvenile justice institutions.
Hostel
The term 'Hostel' refers to a type of institution for young people. Most commonly, hostels catered for 'older' children and young people from around the age of 15. Often young people came to a hostel after leaving a children's home or reformatory. Hostels were designed to assist former residents of orphanages and children's homes with the transition to paid employment and independent living. Educational Hostels were another category, providing accommodation and possibly some educational support for young people, in a location nearby to school. Educational hostels are usually located in rural areas.
J
Juvenile Justice Centre
A term adopted in the 1990s to describe institutions providing custodial accommodation for remanded or sentenced young people. These places were also sometimes known as juvenile detention centres or youth detention centres. At times, young people have been accommodated in adult prisons.
L
Leprosarium
The term Leprosarium refers to an institution providing residential accommodation and medical services to people suffering from leprosy, usually situated in an isolated location.
Lutheran
The term Lutheran describes a person or organisation affiliated with the Lutheran Church.
M
Methodist
The term Methodist describes a person or organisation affiliated with the Methodist Church.
Mission
The term Mission refers to a faith-based organisation that provides social and other forms of support to the needy. Missions continue to operate shelters and social services across Australia, including in cities. With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the word Mission has a specific meaning, as a residential settlement or institution.
Mission Boarding School
Mission Boarding Schools were residential schools run by missionary organisations. They were usually exclusively for Aboriginal children.
Mission Dormitory
Mission Dormitory refers to the dormitory style accommodation buildings that were often placed on Aboriginal missions to house children of school age apart from the rest of their families.
N
Non Government Organisation
Non-Government Organisation, or NGO, is a broad term for charities, not-for-profit agencies and religious organisations which provide services to the community, including services to support families and out-of-home 'care' programs. It is commonly used in New South Wales. In some states and territories, including Victoria, such organisations are known as Community Service Organisations, or CSOs. Although separate from government, and independent, many of these organisations perform work for the government and some depend on government funding to survive. 
Non-denominational
The term Non-denominational describes Protestant organisations without any specific denominational affiliation.
P
Peak Body
Peak Bodies are organisations, often formed out of grass roots activism or interest in a particular issue, which act as a representative voice for the people and or groups who are their members.
Policy
The term Policy refers to a guiding principle adopted by a group, sector or government with respect to a particular issue.
Presbyterian
The term Presbyterian describes a person or organisation affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
Principal Act
A Principal Act is the original piece of legislation enacted to introduce a particular policy. A Principal Act can be amended (changed) by Amending Acts.
Prison
Prison refers to a place for the detention of adults in secure custody, either on remand or after sentencing by a court. Adult prisons continue to be places of detention for some young people in Australia, despite the existence of specific youth and juvenile justice facilities.
Protestant
The term Protestant describes a person or organisation affiliated with any one of the Protestant Churches. With child welfare, services were often clustered under the umbrella terms of Protestant and Catholic.
Public Servant
A Public Servant is a person who works for the government, for example in a state, territory or federal department, but who was hired, rather than elected, to that position.
R
Receiving Home
The term Receiving Home refers to an institution designed to provide short term 'care' for children before they were sent to a longer term placement (for example, placed in foster care, at a children's home or a farm school). In Tasmania, this type of institution approximated the size and form of an average family home. Receiving Homes in other states could be large institutions. Sometimes children spent long periods in a Receiving Home when suitable placements could not be found for them. Children also would return to a Receiving Home after a placement broke down.
Records Access Service
A Records Service is an organisation, or part of an organisation, which helps people find and locate records that contain information about them and their time in 'care'.
Records Holder
A Records Holder is an organisation, family or person which holds records.
Religious Order
The term Religious Order refers to a group composed of initiated people committed to a particular set of values within a Church – within Christianity this often refers to religious Brothers (monks) and Sisters (nuns).
S
School
The term School refers to an institution (residential or non-residential) designed to provide general education, or training in a specialised area.
T
Temporary Care
Temporary Care is a term to describe the short-term, emergency, respite or crisis accommodation of children and young people.
Term commonly found on child welfare records
A phrase, word or abbreviation commonly used as a shorthand notation within child welfare records.
Type of 'care'
A method of providing for children who are not living with their families.
U
Uniting Church
The Uniting Church was established in 1977 as an amalgamation of a number of congregations of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches.
Y
Youth Training Centre
Youth Training Centre is a term adopted from the 1950s onwards in place of 'reformatory' or 'training institution' to describe residential institutions designed for children and young people considered to require stronger discipline that those directed to other forms of 'care'. In some cases, children placed in Youth Training Centres were on remand, or had been convicted of a criminal offence. Sometimes, these institutions were also known as Juvenile Detention or Juvenile Justice Centres. At times, young people have been accommodated in adult prisons.