Married women ran the receiving homes with the help of their husbands. The Department expected them to be in full employment. The couples often had children of their own who also lived in the home. The Department paid the women the same rates as foster mothers. Unless the child was in the home for only a short period, they also received the child endowment from the Commonwealth government.

When Receiving Home Keepers took their annual leave, the home closed. Any children still there were placed somewhere else.

In the 1960s, the Department kept children in receiving homes for as short a time as possible but long enough to ensure that they would settle into a foster home. Time in the receiving home gave the child welfare officer an opportunity to assess their needs.

In the 1970s, children stayed longer in receiving homes mostly because of the difficulty of placing them elsewhere. In particular, there was a lack of placements for teenage girls more of whom were coming into 'care' at this time. For a variety of reasons, institutions such as the Magdalen Home, Clarendon Children's Home, and Maylands Salvation Army Home for Girls did not have places. During this period, children also began staying longer if they got on well with the receiving home keeper.