The Children’s Court Act 1956 (No. 6053) resulted from new thinking in regard to the problem of ‘juvenile delinquency’, and made some important changes to sentencing and to the numbers of offenders who also became wards. It commenced on 1 January 1957, and repealed the Children’s Court Act 1928 (No.3653). The Children’s Court Act 1958…
The Children and Young Persons Act 1989 (No. 56/1989) was implemented in stages up to 1992 and clearly separated services for children in need of protection from services for young offenders. The Act hastened the process of deinstitutionalisation in juvenile justice, and led to the closure of the few surviving ‘children’s homes’ in Victoria. It…
The Children’s Welfare Act 1928 (No. 3654) was ‘An Act to consolidate the Law relating to Children’s Welfare and to the Protection of Infant Life’. It commenced on 18 December 1929 and consolidated and replaced all Victorian legislation relating to child welfare and infant life protection since 1864. In the 1920s, there was a growing…
In 1887 following the proclamation of the Neglected Children’s Act 1887 (No.941) and The Juvenile Offenders’ Act (No.951) responsibility for ‘neglected’ children was transferred from the Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools, to a Department for Neglected Children. A Department for Reformatory Schools assumed responsibility for convicted juveniles. This legislation is evidence of changing ideas…
Under the terms of Children’s Maintenance Act 1919, No. 3001, mothers without sufficient means of support could apply to the Department of Neglected Children for financial assistance toward the maintenance of their children, rather than have the children committed to the Department’s care. This change was a means of regularising the practice, recently ruled unlawful,…
The Neglected and Criminal Children’s Act 1864 (No.216) was the first piece of Victorian legislation to define situations where children might be removed from their parents. The Act provided for the establishment of industrial schools for ‘neglected’ children and reformatory schools for convicted juveniles. Superintendents and matrons were to be appointed and provision was made…
The Juvenile Offenders’ Act (No.951) transferred responsibility for convicted juveniles from the Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools to a Department for Reformatory Schools. This Act allowed for the establishment of Probationary Schools, described by the Department’s Secretary as ‘intermediate between the reformatory and the foster-home’. After the act was passed, a number of young…
The Social Welfare Act 1970 (No.8089) created a new position in the Victorian government, the Minister for Social Welfare. In 1971, the Social Welfare Department was established, taking over responsibility for all functions previously administered by the Social Welfare Branch. In 1978, the Community Welfare Services Act provided that the title of the Social Welfare…
The Social Welfare Act 1960 (No.6651) was proclaimed in stages from 1960. The sections concerned with family and child welfare did not become operative until June 1961. The Act established the Social Welfare Branch within the Chief Secretary’s Department. The Social Welfare Branch assumed responsibility for all functions previously administered by the Children’s Welfare Department…
The Adoption of Children Act 1928, ‘An Act to make provision for the Adoption of infants’ (No.3605) became law in July 1929 and the first legal adoption in Victoria was registered in October of that year. Before that time unofficial, de facto adoptions, which were not recognised in law, were sometimes arranged by both Government…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
