St Anne's Children's (Emergency) Centre

St Anne’s Children’s (Emergency) Centre was established in 1979 at Cabramatta in what had been one of the St Anne’s Group Homes. It offered emergency care for children until 1985 when the Sisters of Charity withdrew entirely from this area of ministry.

From the 1960s, a result of the trend against institutionalised care, children admitted to St Anne’s were often placed into ‘group homes’ in West Ryde, Dundas, Liverpool and Cabramatta, in the care of a House Mother or Cottage Parents, but still under the control of St Anne’s.

No children were taken into care in 1978 whilst the Sisters of Charity evaluated their future involvement in this area of ministry in Liverpool. In the meantime, the St Vincent de Paul Society took possession of the 17 Medley Avenue property and apparently set up a Youth Crisis Accommodation Centre there, called St Anne’s; this was not related to the child care ministry of the Sisters of Charity in any way.

Early in 1979, the property at 9 Loloma Street, Cabramatta, which had been one of the group homes conducted by St Anne’s Orphanage as of 1971, was set up by the Sisters of Charity as an Emergency Centre. It became known as the St Anne’s Children’s (Emergency) Centre, Cabramatta, and continued to offer emergency care for children until 1985 when the Sisters of Charity withdrew entirely from this area of ministry. The Loloma Street property was purchased by the Department of Youth and Community Services in 1986.