St Joseph's Cowper Children's Homes was established in 1972 following the relocation of St Joseph's Orphanage to North Street, Grafton. In 1993 the service became known as St Joseph's Cowper.
In 1972, the St Joseph's Orphanage relocated to a site in North Street, Grafton and became known as St Joseph's Cowper Children's Homes. This change was to replace dormitory style accommodation with family group homes and to have an easier access to education, medical and leisure opportunities for those in residential care. The land was part of a bequest while the new accommodation was provided for out of the sale of the farmland at Cowper and public donations. By then the financial needs of the agency were being partly provided for by the State Government.
In 1982 the Dalton Report called for, among other things, an upgrading of the quality of care provided for children and young people in group homes and the provision of greater financial support by the Government for recurrent spending in residential care. St Joseph's changed to Alternate Care and Accommodation funding in 1985. While this funding was based on a percentage of the previous year's expenses, it nevertheless provided increased finance for St Joseph's to embark on the creative innovations that have brought it to its present form.
1914 - 1972 St Joseph's Orphanage, Cowper
1972 - 1994 St Joseph's Cowper Children's Homes
1993 - 2017 St Joseph's Cowper Incorporated
Sources used to compile this entry: Hanson, Dallas, Why are they in children's homes: report of the ACOSS children's home intake survey, Australian Department of Social Services: Australian Council of Social Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1979, 83 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
Created: 8 March 2011, Last modified: 8 October 2014