Committee of Review into the Child Welfare Act 1960 (1977 - 1978)

Dr Margot Roe chaired the Committee of Review into the Child Welfare Act 1960. Its members included, Dennis Daniels, the Director of the Social Welfare Department, Inspector Donald Fenton from the Police Department, and Ben Marris, later Director of Corrective Services.

The Committee made the following recommendations:

• That the Child Welfare Act be repealed and replaced with a 'Community Services Act'. The Committee set out suggestions for the new act.
• That a state consultative body be established. It would be made up of state and Commonwealth officers from human services departments as well as community and voluntary organisations.
• That local or regional councils with wide representation be established.
• That a system of Community Welfare Grants be set up for voluntary agencies or community groups. These should be decided by a Community Welfare Grants Committee to avoid ad hoc funding by political patronage.
• That welfare client committees be established at a local or regional level. The current State Welfare Client Committee was not responsive enough to the needs of people from every section of society and level of income.
• That the Social Welfare Department establish family services to assist 'underprivileged' children, improve the welfare of families, prevent family breakdown, and support families when it happened.

The Child Welfare Act was not repealed until 1997 when Parliament passed the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act. The other recommendations influenced policy in the Social Welfare Department and its successor, the Department of Community Welfare.