The State Children’s Department took over responsibility for State children from the Destitute Poor Department in 1886 as a result of the passing of the Destitute Persons Act Amendment Act 1886. This Act created the term ‘State Child’ and separated responsibility for the care of State children from that of adults who continued to be…
The Destitute Poor Department was responsible for providing relief and care for destitute persons, including children, throughout South Australia, under the direction of the Destitute Board. As a result of the passing of the Destitute Persons Act Amendment Act in 1886 responsibility for state children was passed from the Destitute Poor Department to the new…
The Destitute Persons’ Department was the new name given to the Destitute Poor Department in 1910. It continued to provide relief and care for destitute adults until it was replaced by the Children’s Welfare and Public Relief Department in 1927.
The Aboriginal Family Support Services Inc. (AFSS) was established in 1978 as the SA Aboriginal Child Care Agency Forum Inc. (ACCA) in order to have an Aboriginal organisation involved in matters relating to child welfare. It was renamed Aboriginal Family Support Services in 1998.
The Aboriginal Child Care Agency was established in South Australia in 1978. It was established as an Aboriginal community controlled organisation to recruit Aboriginal foster parents to take in Aboriginal children. Prior to 1978 many Aboriginal children were removed from their families and placed in institutions or with non-Aboriginal families. The Agency worked to place…
Family Homes were a type of ‘care’ in South Australia and the Northern Territory. In South Australia, Family Homes were established by the government after the passing of the South Australian Community Welfare Act in 1972. They provided smaller group care for up to ten children under the supervision of house parents. They were generally…
The Boarding Out Society took on the voluntary role of visiting and inspecting boarded out children in South Australia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It was officially formed in 1872 by Emily Clark and Catherine Helen Spence who had campaigned for boarding out since the 1860s. They believed that ‘unfortunate’ children would…
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare defines adoption as “The legal process by which a person legally becomes a child of the adoptive parent(s) and legally ceases to be a child of his/her existing parent(s)”. In Australia, each state or territory has its own adoption legislation and its own policies and processes. In the…
The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP) was developed in the early 1980s and was incorporated into adoption and child protection legislation from 1983 onwards. In 2009 it was renamed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle. The Principle is intended to guide child protection services to strengthen Aboriginal children’s connections with their family,…
The Records of the Immigration, Publicity and Tourism Department and predecessor and successor agencies, includes applications for assisted passage for youths and agricultural farm workers between 1911 – 1930. Access Conditions For access to these records please contact State Records South Australia. A Research Centre Members card, obtainable at the Archives, is required to research…