Archives



Marella Mission Farm

Marella Mission Farm originated in 1948 with Gwen and Keith Langford-Smith accommodating Aboriginal foster children on their farm property at Kellyville. By 1949 Langford Smith had set up the Sky Pilot Foundation to run the farm, with the stated goal of caring for Aboriginal children who had been born in New South Wales to mothers…

Falling Leaves

Falling Leaves, at Avalon, operated from around 1950. It was a licensed children’s home approved by the New South Wales Child Welfare Department. Licensed children’s homes were considered part of the foster care system. Falling Leaves closed around 1970. In 2013 it is a private house. Falling Leaves was run by a mother and daughter…

Redfern Aboriginal Children’s Service

Redfern Aboriginal Children’s Service was established in 1975. It was established out of the Aboriginal Legal Service, as a result of a high number of Aboriginal children escaping from custody or from fostering situations and coming to Redfern to search for their families. Many Aboriginal children were either placed into the care of non-Aboriginal families,…

Aboriginal Child, Family and Community Care State Secretariat (NSW) Inc

The Aboriginal Child, Family and Community Care State Secretariat [AbSec] was formed to strengthen links between Aboriginal child and family service provider agencies and to support the organisations to provide effective and high quality services for children and young people. It has been funded by the Australian Government as the Peak Body for Aboriginal Out-of-Home…

Uniting Burnside

Uniting Burnside is a member of the Uniting services. It is one of the largest providers of child and family services in New South Wales and in 2010 worked with 13,000 children, young people and family members. Uniting Burnside holds the records of Burnside’s various operations on the North Parramatta site, and of Burnside group…

Stretch-A-Family Inc.

Stretch-A-Family Inc. was an adolescent fostering and residential care provider for children aged seven to 18. It was founded in 1976, as part of the Young People’s Refuge. In 1984 the two programs split and Stretch-A-Family set up its own supported accommodation program, On Track, in 1994. In 2020, Stretch-A-Family stopped providing residential care, and…

The Infants’ Home, Ashfield

The Infants’ Home, Ashfield was established in Henry Street, Ashfield in 1877. Previously, it had been located in Stewart Street, Paddington, and known as the Sydney Foundling Hospital. The Infants’ Home, Ashfield was a lying-in hospital and pioneered the practice of keeping mothers and babies together after the birth, and helping mothers find work. It…

Nunya Aboriginal Foster Care Support

Nunya Foster Care support is a New South Wales Aboriginal Children’s Services organisation funded by the New South Wales Department of Community Services. It was established in 1988 by the Coomealla Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation.

Coomealla Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation

The Coomealla Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation was initially opened in 1984. In 1987 the organisation was incorporated as the Dareton Aboriginal Youth Development Association Inc. The name changed to the Dareton Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation in 1990, and in 1998 it was known as the Coomealla Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation. It set up Nunya Foster…

Find-A-Family

Find-A-Family was established in Sydney in 1975 by Barnardos as a professional care, fostering and adoption program. It finds permanent care placements for children who have been removed by the courts, but works to ensure links are maintained with the child’s birth family. Find-A-Family Offices are located in Sydney, Canberra, Central Coast and South Coast,…