Closed adoption refers to the practice of sealing an adopted child’s original birth certificate and issuing a new birth certificate when the child was adopted. This new certificate included the name of the child and their adoptive parents. The identity of the adopted child’s original parents was hidden. This practice meant that many people didn’t…
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) maintains a structure of Lodges throughout the world. It was founded in 1819 in Baltimore, USA with the establishment of Washington Lodge No. 1. A fundamental aim of the organisation is to provide care for orphaned and neglected children as well as the elderly. This lodge received its…
Children and the State Oral History Project is an oral history collection at the National Library of Australia. It comprises 15 interviews, conducted by Morag McArthur and Gail Winkworth between 1988 and 2008. The interviewees worked in senior positions in child welfare in Australia. Access Conditions Access conditions vary. Some of the interviews are available…
The Good Shepherd Archive was established in 1983 and is located in Abbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria. The Archive cares for the records of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Australia and New Zealand. The records, from Good Shepherd institutions around Australia, date from 1863 to the present day. The Good Shepherd Archive’s collection includes many records about…
The Immigration Photographic Archive 1946 – today is a collection of photographs held by the National Archives of Australia, relating to immigration to Australia dating from 1946. It includes photographs relating to child migration from Britain. Many of these images have been digitised and are available to view online. Access Conditions These records are open…
Records of Red Cross Children’s Homes is a collection held by the Australian Red Cross relating to Homes run by the Junior Red Cross around Australia. Part of the Junior Red Cross’s peacetime programs were funding Children’s Homes for the temporary care of children of Australian servicemen, needing a holiday or to convalesce from an…
The Junior Red Cross Society was formally established in Australia in 1918, as part of the Australian Red Cross. It was a children’s and youth division, which had regional committees. Various branches of the Junior Red Cross Society set up and ran Homes in various locations around Australia, as part of its peacetime programs. These…
The Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM) was an Evangelical Baptist missionary organisation established by Retta Dixon in 1905. The AIM and its staff ran the St Clair Mission, the Singleton Home, the Native Workers’ Training College and the Singleton Bible Training Institute in New South Wales, as well as the Phillip Creek Mission and the Retta…
The Fairbridge Society developed from the Child Emigration Society, established in 1909 by Kingsley Fairbridge. Its purpose was to send British child migrants to different parts of the Empire where they would learn farming at special farm schools. The Fairbridge Society ran Pinjarra in Western Australia from 1913, and sent children to farm schools in…
On 21 March 2013, the Prime Minister Julia Gillard apologised on behalf of the Australian Government to people affected by forced adoption or removal policies and practices. The national apology was delivered in the Great Hall of Parliament House, Canberra.
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