State Government of New South Wales
The Department of Community Services was a New South Wales government department that was created in 1992 to manage child welfare and other social services. It had formerly been the Department of Health and Community Services. It was responsible for a number of institutions and establishments throughout New South Wales. In addition, the Department cared for children in hostels and group homes. The name of the Department of Community Services was changed to the Department of Human Services in 2009.
1881 - 1923 State Children's Relief Board
1923 - 1970 Child Welfare Department
1970 - 1973 Department of Child Welfare and Social Welfare
1973 - 1975 Department of Youth and Community Services
1975 - 1976 Department of Youth, Ethnic and Community Affairs
1976 - 1988 Department of Youth and Community Services
1988 - 1991 Department of Family and Community Services
1991 - 1992 Department of Health and Community Services
1992 - 2009 Department of Community Services
2009 - 2011 Department of Human Services
2011 - Department of Family and Community Services
Sources used to compile this entry: Association of Children's Welfare Agencies, A Short History of Out of Home Care in New South Wales, Prepared for the Coalition for Children in Care, 2010. Also available at http://www.acwa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/short_history_OOHC.pdf; 'Brush Farm Home, Eastwood', in State Records Authority of New South Wales website, State of New South Wales through the State Records Authority of NSW 2016, https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/agency/6427; Coalition for Children in Care, A brief history of Out of Home Care in NSW since 1980, ACWA, 2010; Landa, D.E., Report on the Department of Community Services and Brougham Residential Unit, Office of the Ombudsman. Special report to Parliament ; no. 93/04, Office of the Ombudsman, Sydney, 12 August 1993, 146 pp; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.
Prepared by: Melissa Downing & Naomi Parry
Created: 22 February 2011, Last modified: 27 April 2015
Last updated: 18 January 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00044b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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