The Department of Family and Community Services was the new name chosen by the New South Wales Government for the Department of Youth and Community Services in 1991. In 1991 the Department’s name was changed to the Department of Health and Human Services.
City Mission refers to the missions run by various Christian denominations in urban and suburban settings. Many of the city missions established in nineteenth-century Australia continue to operate community services organisations in the 2010s. The London City Mission was founded in 1835, with a mandate to ‘extend the knowledge of the Gospel among the inhabitants…
The Ward Registers are short documents compiled by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines between 1916 and the 1940s, that record details of Aboriginal wards in the apprenticeship system and institutions. The Registers record date of birth, place of removal, parents’, siblings and other relatives’ names, and the names of employers, institutions the children…
The Carpentarian Reformatory was established by the Department of Charitable Institutions at Brush Farm, a historic property in Eastwood, in 1894. It was located in an area sometimes referred to as Dundas Heights, so is often described as being in Dundas. In 1897, the management of the Reformatory was taken over by the State Children’s…
Uncontrollable is a term used in child welfare legislation and in child welfare files. It was generally used by authorities to describe a child believed to be undisciplined. Being uncontrollable could be a reason for a child to be deemed neglected and made a ward of the state in court. Parents and guardians could declare…
Probation refers to children or young people being committed by the Children’s Court to a period of supervision by the child welfare department in their state or territory. In New South Wales, probation was introduced in 1905 as part of the Children’s Court system. It was a way of supervising children who had been charged…
Juvenile justice is the system of dealing with crimes committed by children and minors through courts, probation and detention programmes. As early as the 1840s it was recognised that young offenders should receive different treatment to adults. The first colonial laws to tackle children’s criminal behaviour were passed in the 1860s. Since this time, the…
The Family Endowment Act 1927, passed by the Lang Labor government, introduced a new payment to families in New South Wales. Family endowment was a flat rate paid to all non-Aboriginal families, irrespective of circumstances and is considered the first universal welfare payment made in Australia. It made a significant difference to the wellbeing of…
In Moral Danger (sometimes abbreviated as IMD) was a term in common use in government departments and welfare agencies in the twentieth century. It referred to one of the categories of a ‘child in need of care and protection’ under the various child welfare acts in Australian states and territories. Being ‘exposed to moral danger’…
Child guidance clinics were first established in Australia in the 1930s. Such clinics had been developed in the United States in the 1920s, for the diagnosis and treatment of mild behaviour and emotional problems in school-aged children (Wright, 2012). An important motive in the development of child guidance clinics was to counteract ‘juvenile delinquency’, but…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
