Departmental Children's Homes archival series with contents dating from 1955 to 1987. It has the Public Record Office Victoria series number of VPRS 18072/P0001. The records in this series were created by interactions between the various Victorian government departments responsible for child welfare and departmental children's Homes. The Departmental Children's Homes Files contain information about institutions and their administration, as well as about the children who lived in these Homes.
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The records in Departmental Children's Homes Files document interactions between children's Homes run by the Victorian government with the various departments responsible for child welfare for the period 1955 to 1987.
This filing system was created in 1975 combining earlier correspondence and other records to create one system with 'DH' prefixes.
There are several file types: general, staff, works and statistics.
The information about institutions found in Departmental Children's Homes Files includes: declarations regarding the establishment of an Approved Children's Home, inspectors' reports, health inspector and hygiene reports, research studies, applications for grants, reports from interviews with staff, progress reports of programs, agency plans, reviews, financial information, works information, staffing matters, proposed constitution of Home, complaints against staff, proposals for future development, purchase of properties, and closure of Homes.
The information about children found in Departmental Children's Homes Files includes: State Ward placements, holiday placements for State Wards, allegations and investigations of abuse against children, lists of children's names for placement, consents for medical treatments, child admissions and discharges, incident reports, lists of child absconders, and closure of Homes.
The Finding Records website has detailed information about the contents of Departmental Children's Homes Files - the pages on Finding Records about particular Homes provide listings of any files within the Departmental Children's Homes Files series relating to that Home.
Sources used to compile this entry: Department of Health and Human Services, Finding Records, State of Victoria, 2016, https://www.findingrecords.dhhs.vic.gov.au/.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 21 December 2017, Last modified: 10 August 2021
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E001065b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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