The Hawthorn Youth Welfare Service was established by the Victorian state government in 1970. It provided short term, non-residential care for approximately 100 14 -17 year old males each year. Young men were placed on probation to the Youth Welfare Service for six to twelve months. They attended the service under close supervision for three…
The Western Youth Welfare Service (WYWS) was established by the Victorian government in Ascot Vale in 1975. It provided residence and support for about 200 young people every year. The WYWS included a hostel that helped prepare residents return home or to live independently. It also ran day and evening programs to assist young people…
The Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines was established in 1869, under the provisions of the Aborigines Protection Act 1869. Previously, the Central Board Appointed to Watch Over the Interests of Aborigines had been operating in Victoria since 1860. The Board, which ran missions and reserve stations in Victoria, had significant statutory power over…
Gippsland Family Services was established by the Mission of St James and John in 1979. The Mission had operated a family group home and ‘Thurana’, an adolescent residential unit, at Traralgon, since 1976. Gippsland Family Services ran a number of services for children in the Latrobe Valley, including The Manor in Morwell (crisis accommodation for…
The Office of the Child Safety Commissioner was established in December 2004 to monitor the out of home care system in Victoria. (The Office was formally created in April 2005, and the first Child Safety Commissioner was appointed in May 2005). The legislative functions and powers of the Child Safety Commissioner are set out in…
The Gordon Homes for Boys and Girls, Highett, was the new name given in 1969 to the Gordon Homes for Boys. By the early 1970s, the Homes operated eight family group homes, in six suburbs. In 2000, the organisation changed its name to GordonCare for Children. Notice of the change of name from Gordon Homes…
The Menzies Home for Boys was the new name given in 1943 to the Minton Boys’ Home. The Menzies Home for Boys was for “neglected” boys under the age of eighteen who had been recommended by the Children’s Welfare Department. The Home was often referred to as ‘The Home on the Hill’. The organisation also…
St Vincent de Paul Child and Family Services came into being in 1992. It was formerly known as St Vincent de Paul’s Children’s Home. St Vincent de Paul Child and Family Services came under the control of MacKillop Family Services in 1997.
Wesley Central Mission came into being in 1893, as the response of Wesleyan Methodists in Victoria to the severe economic depression and associated inner-city poverty of the early 1890s. In 1977, with the creation of the Uniting Church in Australia, its name changed to Wesley Central Parish Mission. Wesley Central Mission came into being in…
The Gordon Homes for Boys opened in Highett in 1951. Formerly, services had been provided at the Gordon Institute in Melbourne. The Homes accommodated boys aged between 5 and 14 in cottage homes. In 1969, the Home became the Gordon Homes for Boys and Girls. The Gordon Homes for Boys were located on the Nepean…