The Home Mission Society of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, also known as the Church of England Home Mission Society, the Anglican Home Mission Society and the Home Mission Society, was formed in Sydney in 1857. It was controlled by the Sydney Diocese of the Church of England and its primary object was to help needy parishes. Its Homes and Hostels Committee ran Havilah before that Home became part of Church of England Homes in 1930. The Home Mission Society ran chaplaincies to Children’s Courts, Charlton Boys’ Home in Glebe and the Lawson Rural Centre. Care Force and Charlton Youth Services were part of the Home Mission Society. In 1997 the Home Mission Society changed its name to Anglicare Diocese of Sydney. Records of homes it ran are with Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Services.
According to its annual reports, the Home Mission Society ran a chaplaincy at the Children’s Courts, supporting non-Catholic children and their families during hearings and providing support to boys and girls who were placed on probation, or sent to reformatories.
In September 1945 The Sydney Morning Herald reported on this chaplaincy, noting that more than 200 Anglican and non-Catholic girls and boys appeared before magistrates each month. The Society also had chaplains on the Hawkesbury River and at Glen Davis, who worked with ‘disrupted, unsettled families, where domestic tragedies loomed.’ The article stated that ‘problem boys’ were ‘dealt with’ at the Charlton Memorial Home at Glebe. In its 1944 annual report the Home Mission Society said the Charlton Memorial Home was its ‘Special Centre Work’
The Society explained the purpose of the Charlton Memorial Home:
… many of the cases which come before the Court can only be helped by taking them out of the homes in which they have become a social problem.
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In another article in 1945 the Herald noted that Lawson Rural Centre was being developed by the Homes and Hostels Committee of the Home Mission Society as a new form of care for children.
In 1981 the Church of England became the Anglican Church. In 1984 the Home Mission Society took control of the assets and records of Church of England Homes. In 1997 the Home Mission Society changed its name to Anglicare.