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Victoria - Organisation

Copelen Street Family Centre (1974 - 1991)

From
1974
To
1991
Categories
Adoption Agency, Care Provider, Foster Care, Home, Methodist, Protestant and Uniting Church

The Copelen Street Family Centre was established in 1974 in South Yarra. It included a children's care centre, offered family counselling, and provided foster care. By the late 1980s the South Yarra property was sold and in 1991, the Centre was renamed Copelen Child and Family Services.

Details

The Copelen Street Family Centre grew out of a Parents and Children's Centre, established in 1974 in the buildings of the Methodist Babies' Home, at 12 Copelen Street, South Yarra.

This centre offered a variety of programs including Adoption and Permanent Care, parent skills training, a day care centre, a drop-in centre, and family counselling and support.

It was also a provider of foster care in the inner suburbs of Melbourne.

In 1984, the adoption legislation in Victoria led to Copelen setting up an Adoption Information Service.

By the end of the 1980s it was decided to sell the South Yarra property to enable Copelen Street's programs to be located closer to their client base in Windsor. In 1991, the Centre was renamed Copelen Child and Family Services.

Location

1974 - 1989?
Address - Copelen Street Family Centre was located at 12 Copelen Street, South Yarra. Location: South Yarra

Timeline

 1929 - c. 1974 Methodist Babies' Home
       1974 - 1991 Copelen Street Family Centre
             1991 - 1998 Copelen Child and Family Services
                   1998 - 2000 Copelen
                         2000 - 2017 Connections UnitingCare
                               2017 - 2020 Uniting - Connections
                                     2017 - Uniting (Victoria and Tasmania) Limited

Publications

Books

  • Copelen Street family services - formerly Methodist Babies' Home South Yarra: sixtieth anniversary 1929-1989, Copelen Street Family Services, South Yarra, 1989. Details
  • Tinney, Phyllis M., Parents for Children : Exploratory Study of Older Children Adopted through the Adoption Section of the Copelen Street Family Centre of the Uniting Church, Victoria, Johnson, Kelley; Wyman, Kim, Copelen Street Family Centre, South Yarra, Vic., 1980. Details

Journals

  • Streetscope : the quarterly newsletter of Copelen Street Family Centre., Copelen Street Family Centre, South Yarra, [Vic], 1980-1994. Details

Reports

  • 'Historical Details', Kildonan Uniting Care, 7 September 2007. Details
  • Copelen Street Family Centre, Annual Report: the Copelen Street Family Centre, The Centre, [South Yarra, Vic.], [1975] - 1991. Details
  • Thomas, Helen, Establishment and Evaluation of an Experimental Parents and Children Centre : an Interim Report to the Advisory Committee on Child Care Research on the Establishment of the Copelen Street Family Centre, [Prepared by Helen Thomas in consultation with Graeme Gregory], Methodist Department of Child Care, South Yarra, Vic., December, 1974. Details
  • Tinney, Phyllis M., The Copelen Street Family Centre : a descriptive and evaluation report, Methodist Church of Australasia. Victoria and Tasmania Conference. Dept. of Adult Care, Methodist Dept. of Child Care, Melbourne], May 1977. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Methodist Babies' Home
Title
Methodist Babies' Home
Type
Image

Details

Front gates at 12 Copelen Street, South Yarra
Title
Front gates at 12 Copelen Street, South Yarra
Type
Image
Date
30 September 1978

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Historical Details', Kildonan Uniting Care, 7 September 2007; Reconnections and Recollections: Charting the History of Connections UnitingCare, Connections UnitingCare, May 2010, http://web.archive.org/web/20140320060720/http://connections.org.au/pdfs/ReConnections-and-ReCollections.pdf.

Prepared by: Cate O'Neill