The Community Welfare Services Act 1978 (No. 9248) brought into being the Department of Community Welfare Services. It amended the Social Welfare Act 1970, and provided that its title be changed to the ‘Community Welfare Services Act 1970’. The 1978 Act defined the objectives and philosophies guiding child welfare in Victoria in the late 1970s,…
The Social Welfare (Administration) Act 1977 (No. 9018) amended the Social Welfare Act 1970. The 1977 amendment reflected changes to the administration of the department, for example, the Youth Welfare Division’s name change to Youth Welfare Services, and the abolition of the Family Welfare Division. The Social Welfare (Administration) Act 1977 was repealed by Statute…
The Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act 1864 (Act no. 220) set out certain requirements for Victorian institutions, societies and associations, funded entirely or in part by voluntary contributions, and which had been established with the object of saving human life, promoting health, temperance or morality, preventing cruelty or vice or for other philanthropic or humane…
The Infant Life Protection Act 1890 (No. 1198) commenced on 31 January 1891. It shifted the control of overseeing paid children’s nurses to the police, and explicitly stated that people had to be registered if they were for the purpose of nursing or maintaining such infant apart taking charge of a child under two years…
The Children’s Court Act 1906 (No. 2058) established a closed court where children’s cases would be heard, established a clear protocol for dealing with children between the time they were apprehended and their court appearance, and formally recognised the importance of probation officers to the system. The Children’s Court continued largely unaltered into the second…
The Aborigines Act of 1890 (Act no.1059) was ‘An Act to consolidate the Laws relating to the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria.’ It extended the powers of the Governor to separate Aboriginal children from their families. The Act commenced on 1 August 1890 and was repealed by the Aborigines Act 1915 on 1 October 1915. In…
The Public Health Amendment Statute 1883, No. 782, also referred to as the Public Health Amendment Act, made local boards responsible for overseeing the registration of children placed in the homes of people other than their families. This was Victoria’s first attempt to legally regulate the practice referred to as baby-farming. In the mid-nineteenth century…
The Neglected and Criminal Children’s Amendment Act 1874 amended the Neglected and Criminal Children’s Act of 1864. The main change was its introduction of the practice of boarding-out to Victoria’s child welfare system. Boarding-out was introduced into the Victorian child welfare system as a solution to the overcrowding and poor health within the colony’s industrial…
The Victorian Freedom of Information Act 1982 gives you the right to access documents about your personal affairs and the activities of government agencies; and the right to request that incorrect or misleading information held by an agency about you be amended or removed. However, for privacy reasons not all information is automatically available. The…
The Neglected Children’s Act 1915, No. 2703 consolidated the laws contained in the Neglected Children’s Act 1890. It repealed the Neglected Children’s Act 1890, No. 1121. It was amended by Act No. 2875, Act No. 2980, Act No.3001, Act No. 3351, Act No. 3421, Act No. 3497, Act No. 3605, Act No. 3620. It was…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
