The Jacana Children's Home was established by the Salvation Army in 1976. By the early 1980s the Jacana complex accommodated a total of 24 children within three residential 'care' units. The Home closed in 1995.
The Jacana Children's Home was situated in Sunset Boulevard, Jacana. The Salvation Army had purchased the land in the City of Broadmeadows, following the closure of the Catherine Booth Girls' Home in East Kew.
There was a small 'cluster village' of three units spread out on the block to facilitate the units merging with the surrounding houses. One of the units was a temporary care unit. According to Jenkinson, this was 'somewhere between small residential care units and family group homes'.
By the early 1980s the Jacana complex was accommodating a total of 24 children.
Sources used to compile this entry: James Jenkinson Consulting, Guide to out-of-home care services 1940-2000 - Volume One: Agency Descriptions, Department of Human Services, Unpublished, November 2001, https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/DHS.3004.011.0367.pdf; The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory, 'Children's Homes: A list of openings, closings and function (submission 46)', in Inquiry into Institutional Care: Submissions received as at 17/03/05, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 1 May 2009, Last modified: 29 October 2018