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CatholicCare Adoption Services

CatholicCare Adoption Services was created in 2011, replacing Centacare Adoption Services. It was part of CatholicCare Sydney. CatholicCare Adoption Services dealt with Catholic adoptions, both current and past. It was a central repository for all files relating to Catholic adoptions in New South Wales. It also ran the Catholic Children’s Homes Enquiry Service. In 2018,…

Adoption Information Services, Department of Justice and Community Safety

Adoption Information Services came into being in July 2019 when the delivery of local adoptions, inter-country adoptions and information about past adoptions were transferred from the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Justice and Community Safety. Previously, the Victorian government adoption information service was called Family Information, Networks and Discovery…

Uniting – Connections

Uniting – Connections came into being in July 2017. Previously the organisation was called Connections UnitingCare. It was a community service organisation that was part of Uniting (Victoria and Tasmania) Limited. Uniting – Connections had an adoptions and permanent care program, and provided a range of services for children, young people and families. Its predecessor…

CatholicCare Victoria

CatholicCare was formerly known as Centacare Catholic Family Services. The name change was in line with other organisations within Catholic Social Services Australia, the peak body for Catholic community service providers in Australia. The new name was adopted to emphasise the continuing links between these services and the mission work of the Catholic Church. In…

Adoption Information Service, Uniting – Connections

The Adoption Information Service, Uniting – Connections began in 1984 with the introduction of the Victorian Adoption Act, which provided for the first time rights to the parties to adoption to access to information. Adopted persons, adoptive parents, parents who have relinquished their child and other family members can obtain information about an adoption organised…

Centacare Catholic Family Services

Centacare Catholic Family Services was formerly known as the Catholic Social Service Bureau. The name change, to reflect the organisation’s ‘commitment to families’ was announced by Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell in December 1998. The Department of Human Services funds Centacare’s Adoption and Permanent Care Service, which incorporates an information service about previous adoptions.

Adoption and Family Records Service, Department of Human Services

The Adoption and Family Records Service (AFRS) was a program within the Department of Human Services (DHS) for former wards of the state of Victoria and their families. The purpose of the Service was to release state ward files and provide assistance to locate other relevant records and information; give counselling and support and referrals…