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Adoption Act 2000, New South Wales

The Adoption Act 2000 (75/2000) was ‘an Act with respect to the adoption of children and access of information relating to an adoption; to repeal the Adoption of Children Act 1965 and the Adoption Information Act 1990; to amend the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 with respect to registration of adoptions and adopted…

Infants’ Custody and Settlements Act, New South Wales

The Infants’ Custody and Settlements Act (39/1899) was also known as ‘An Act to consolidate the law relating to the custody of infants and the settlement of the property of infants’. This Act brought a number of previous pieces of legislation, to do with custody, marriage settlements, and damages recovered on behalf of children, under…

Infant Convicts Act 1849, New South Wales

The Infant Convicts Act 1849 [21/1849 (13 Vic. No.21)], also known as ‘An Act to provide for the Care and Education of Infants who may be convicted of Felony or Misdemeanour’, allowed judges and magistrates to make custody orders, and send children into the care of other adults, when sentencing children convicted of crimes. It…

Custody of Children and Children’s Settlements Act 1894, New South Wales

The Custody of Children and Children’s Settlements Act 1894 enabled courts to refuse a parents’ application for the return of a child if the court was of the opinion that the parent has abandoned or deserted or neglected the child or otherwise so conducted himself or herself that the court should refuse to enforce the…

Community Welfare Act 1982, New South Wales

The Community Welfare Act 1982 (76/1982) was an Act that modernised and consolidated the Child Welfare Act 1939 and other Acts that related to children. The Act stated that the welfare and interests of children were to be given ‘paramount consideration’, that children should be , and that there should be ‘no interruption of parental…

Orphan School Estates Act 1826, New South Wales

The Orphan School Estates Act 1826, also known as An Act for Vesting the Orphan School Estates in the Trustees of the Clergy and School Lands in the Colony of New South Wales and for duly governing the Children at School and in Apprenticeship (7 George 4, Act No 4, 1826), established rules for the…

Children’s Protection Act 1902, New South Wales

The Children’s Protection Act 1902 (47/1902) was also known as ‘An Act to consolidate the enactments providing for the protection of children in certain cases’ and repealed the Children’s Protection Act 1892. It amended and consolidated the law regarding ‘baby-farming’, or caring for multiple infants for a fee. This practice was of great social and…

Community Welfare Act 1987, New South Wales

The Community Welfare Act 1987 (52/1987) was a significant revision of existing child welfare legislation and the Community Welfare Act 1982. It followed a number of Reports and Inquiries around Australia and the world. It is the Act that controls the functions of the Minister for community welfare and social development and some of the…

Aborigines Act 1969, New South Wales

The Aborigines Act 1969 (37/1969) was ‘An Act to make provisions with respect to matters concerning Aborigines; to repeal the Aborigines Protection Act, 1909, and certain other Acts; to amend the Attachment of Wages Limitation Act, 1957.’ It was a landmark Act that abolished the Aborigines Welfare Board and moved all Aboriginal children into the…

Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987, New South Wales

The Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987 (58/1987) was introduced to cover children in need of care and protection, including children in institutions, foster care and state wards. It was introduced alongside the Community Welfare Act 1987 and the Children’s Court Act 1987. This Act was amended many times. In 1995 the Children (Care and…