Glossary

Glossary terms starting with the letter A:

  • Aboriginal Child Placement Principle – The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP) outlines a preference that, if Aboriginal children are to be placed outside their families, they should be with other Aboriginal people.
  • Aboriginal Education and Employment Hostel – Aboriginal Education and Employment Hostels were set up to provide accommodation for Aboriginal young people in Western Australia who needed to come to the metropolitan area, or large regional towns, for study or work.
  • Aboriginal Mission – Missions were created by churches or religious individuals to house Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, convert them to Christianity and prepare them for menial jobs.
  • Aboriginal School – Aboriginal schools were separate public schools in New South Wales. created because Aboriginal children were legally required to attend school, but could be excluded from public schools if non-Aboriginal parents complained about their presence.
  • Absconding – Absconding is a term used to describe the act of running away or escaping from an institution, foster home or other place of care.
  • Admission Unit – Admission Units existed in South Australia from the 1970s to provide short term crisis care.
  • Adolescent Care – Specific models of “care” for adolescents became more common from the 1980s.
  • Adolescent Community Placement – Adolescent Community Placement (or ACP) is a home-based care model for young people experiencing crisis and are unable to live with their families.
  • Adoption – Adoption is the legal process by which a person legally becomes a child of the adoptive parent(s) and legally ceases to be a child of his/her existing parent(s).
  • Adoption Agency – The term Adoption Agency refers to any organisation involved in the adoption of babies and children, whether this was mandated by legislation or not.
  • Affiliation – Affiliation is a word used to describe the process of identifying the father of an "illegitimate" child.
  • Annexe – Annexe is a term used to describe a smaller residential facility that is part of a larger institution.
  • Apprenticeship – Apprenticeship was the practice of sending children into placements with employers once they were too old to attend school.
  • Approved Children's Home – Approved Children’s Homes had been certified to accommodate children under the relevant state legislation.
  • Assessment Unit – Assessment units existed in South Australia from 1972 to provide short term residential accommodation when a child came into out-of-home care.
  • Asylum – Asylum is a term for a place of refuge - some nineteenth century children’s homes were known as asylums.