Gippsland Family Services was established by the Mission of St James and John in 1979. The Mission had operated a family group home and ‘Thurana’, an adolescent residential unit, at Traralgon, since 1976. Gippsland Family Services ran a number of services for children in the Latrobe Valley, including The Manor in Morwell (crisis accommodation for families) and the Central Gippsland Foster Care Program in Moe.