Substitute Care (Institutional 'B') Files are records relating to children who were committed to institutions in New South Wales.
Access to these records is restricted. People wishing to access restricted records can either contact their nearest Community Services Centre to apply or they can post the information; an application form must be completed together with proof of identity provided.
The guide Connecting Kin (1998) contains this description of the Substitute Care (Institutional 'B') Files:
These files represent a random ten per cent sample and relate to children who were born in 1961 or 1962 and have been discharged from care.
From the information available, it would seem that these files were kept by government departments dating back to around 1936, but that files have been destroyed and only a sample retained.
Sources used to compile this entry: 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: 10 August 2011, Last modified: 12 December 2014