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Post Adoption Resource Centre

The Post Adoption Resource Centre (PARC) was opened by the Benevolent Society of New South Wales in 1991 following the introduction of the New South Wales Adoption Information Act 1990. PARC provides information, advice, support and counselling to adopted people, birth parents and adoptive parents, and former residents of Scarba House. Initial contact with the…

Scarba House for Children

Scarba House for Children at Bondi was the new name given in 1965 to what was previously called Scarba Welfare House for Children. It was run by the Benevolent Society of New South Wales and was a home for babies and small children. During the 1970s it developed a range of early childhood programs. Scarba…

Scarba Welfare House for Children

Scarba Welfare House for Children at Bondi was run by the Benevolent Society. Previously it known as the Scarba Welfare House for Women and Children as it also provided accommodation for mothers together with their infants. From around the end of 1920 Scarba was a home for babies and small children, most of whom were…

Renwick Hospital for Infants, Thomas Street

The Renwick Hospital for Infants was opened in 1911 by the Benevolent Society. The building had been the Thomas Street Asylum, but was converted to a babies’ hospital to deal with the epidemics of gastroenteritis that hit crowded Sydney streets in summer. It had 60 cots and also appears to have catered to lying-in mothers….

Benevolent Society of New South Wales

The Benevolent Society of New South Wales was established on 8 May 1813 to provide assistance to the destitute, needy, sick and vulnerable aged people, women and children. For much of the nineteenth century it effectively functioned as the social welfare arm of the New South Wales Government, which paid the Society to provide residential…

Find-A-Family

Find-A-Family was established in Sydney in 1975 by Barnardos as a professional care, fostering and adoption program. It finds permanent care placements for children who have been removed by the courts, but works to ensure links are maintained with the child’s birth family. Find-A-Family Offices are located in Sydney, Canberra, Central Coast and South Coast,…

Temporary Family Care

Temporary Family Care is a crisis and respite foster program run as part of Dr Barnardos in Australia. This program opened at the Waverley Centre in 1978; Auburn in 1984, Penrith in 1989 and Canberra and Illawarra in 1990.

Dr Barnardos in Australia

Dr Barnardos in Australia was, from 1966, the name used by Dr Barnardo’s Homes (Australia Branch). In 1964 Dr Barnardo’s Homes had stopped its child migration scheme and began to offer a broad range of services to children and families in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The name change reflected this shift…

Dr Barnardo’s Homes (Australia Branch)

Dr Barnardo’s Homes (Australia Branch) began in 1883 when eight boys travelled from Dr Barnardo’s Stepney Home, London, to Australia. From 1920 to 1965 Barnardos ran an official Immigration Scheme under which many children migrated to Australia. In the post-World War Two period, Barnardo’s established family group homes in New South Wales and the Australian…

Barnardos Australia

Barnardos Australia was the new name given to Dr Barnardos in Australia around 1995. Barnardos Australia offers a range of services to children and families across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. These include accommodation, childcare, support programs, and permanency programs for out-of-home care including adoption, adolescent services, kinship care and foster care….