Department of Community Welfare Services (1978 - 1985)

The Family and Adolescent Services Division was responsible for the management of reception centres and youth training centres in Victoria.

The Residential Child Care section was responsible for the 'care' of wards (about 80% of children and young people) as well as non-wards (who were placed in non-government 'care' by parents or guardians).

The Youth Services Section was concerned with preventative care for 'at risk youth'. It ran hostels for young people located in Sunshine, Ivanhoe and Thornbury. It also subsidised hostels run by the non-government sector. The Section ran Youth Welfare Services at Ascot Vale, Brunswick, Hawthorn and Windsor.

The management of foster care was transferred to the Regional Services Division in 1976. The Department had a policy of regionally based foster care programs, so that children in foster care could be placed in their local community and maintain links with family and friends.

In 1983, some significant changes were made to the Department and its policies. An annual review of wardship was introduced in February 1983. The first year of this new policy was seen by the Department as a success, evident from the reducing number of wards and an increased emphasis on returning wards to their families, or to independent living, as soon as appropriate.

In 1983, the Victorian government established a separate Office of Corrections. This led to a restructure within the Department of Community Welfare Services. From May 1983, there was a new Protective and Substitute Care Branch within the Department. The broad aims of the Branch were 'to provide a wide range of services to give care and protection to children and young people at risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation - and to provide care and control of young offenders'.

This branch was responsible for foster care, provided by the Department and 25 non-government agencies. It also organised adoptions, together with eight approved adoption agencies. Its residential care was largely provided in family group homes, comprising 4 or 5 children.

In September 1983 the Child Welfare Practice and Legislation Review released its Discussion Paper, which was endorsed by the Department of Community Welfare Services.

The annual report for 1983/84 reported the closure of 15 services in Victoria, as a result of the Department's 'planned progressive redevelopment of facilities … with the aim of developing services to meet current local demands at accepted community standards'. Illoura Children's Home (run by the Department) closed in 1983. Fourteen family group homes and campus units run by non-government agencies were closed that year, with funds reallocated to new facilities.