Anglicare Child and Family Services

Anglicare Child and Family Services replaced Care Force in 1997. It held and managed the records of a number of Church of England children’s homes in the Sydney Church of England/Anglican Diocese. In 2008 this organisation became known as Anglicare Out-of-Home Care, part of the Anglicare Child Youth and Family Services Department. Anglicare Out-of-Home Care now controls records of Church of England and Anglican children’s homes that were supported by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

The Anglican (or Church of England) Diocese of Sydney developed and supported a number of committees that ran children’s homes and programmes in the Sydney metropolitan area from the late 19th century until the present.

The main committees running children’s homes with the support of the Anglican Diocese were Church of England Children’s Homes and the Anglican Home Mission Society. The Anglican Home Mission Society changed its name to Anglicare in 1997. Anglicare Welfare Services was part of Anglicare, as were organisations such as Charlton Youth Services, Care Force and Carramar Adoption Agency. Anglicare Child and Family Services was also part of Anglicare Welfare Services.

When Homes and services operated by these committees and organisations closed, the records were sent to the Home Mission Society. When that organisation became Anglicare, the records were transferred to Anglicare Child and Family Services (formerly Care Force), as were adoption records.

In 2008 Anglicare Child and Family Services became the Anglicare Child, Youth and Family Department and Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Services was created. Since then Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Services has controlled records generated by children’s homes that were linked to the Diocese of Sydney.

The following were Church of England homes operated by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney through Church of England Children’s Homes and the Home Mission Society:

• Church of England Boys’ Home, Carlingford
• Church of England Girls’ Home, Carlingford
• Havilah Little Children’s Home, Carlingford (formerly at Normanhurst)
• Cornwell Group Home, Epping
• Orana Group Home, Wahroonga
• Kingsleigh Group Home, St Ives
• Buckland Group Home, St Marys
• Crecy Group Home, Eastwood
• Tress Manning Temporary Care, Carlingford
• Field Cottage, Carlingford.

Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Services also took responsibility for storing and managing the records of some Anglican children’s homes that were closing. These include:

• Marella Aboriginal Program
• New South Wales Protestant Federation Children’s Home at Dulwich Hill
• Cooinoo Children’s Home at Enfield.