Please contact Fostering and Adoption Services (Past Adoption Information and Services):
Postal Address: Locked Bag 5000, Fremantle WA 6160
Phone: 1800 182 178
Email: adoptions@communities.wa.gov.au
Website: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-communities/past-adoption-information-and-services
These records are part of Records of the Department of Child Protection and Family Support, and predecessors (1894 - current).
Ngala was involved in adoptions from the time that it opened in 1959 until 1980. Any records about adoption are protected by the requirements of the Adoption Act 1994 (WA) and are released via Child Protection and Family Support (CPFS). So, when Ngala stopped its adoption program, they gave the Department records that still existed about adoptions of babies from the Home. Unfortunately, these records are not a complete set.
Access to these records is restricted and confidentiality is protected by the Department’s Protocols for Access. If you believe the Department may hold records about you, or about a family member, you are encouraged to apply. Please apply in writing using the form called the Application for Past Adoption Services, available for download from their website.
The records certainly do not include every child adopted from Ngala. Also, there may not be any information for ‘lone’ babies (those admitted without their mother). However, there are nursing notes for some individual mothers and their babies.