St Anthony's and St Joseph's Centre of Care

St Anthony’s and St Joseph’s Centre of Care was the name of the new organisation created with the amalgamation of St Anthony’s Home Croydon and St Joseph’s Home for Children, Croydon, in around 1980. It was run by the Sisters of St Joseph and provided a range of services to children, young people and families. Over time, the institution employed more trained lay staff in addition to the Sisters. In 2004 it became known as St Anthony’s Family Care, an organisation that continues to exist at the time of writing in 2025.

The institution accommodated children in 3 cottages, situated nearby to the former St Anthony’s Home. Sisters of St Joseph worked as house mothers in the cottages. The children in these cottages were those for whom foster care placements could not be found when St Joseph’s Home for Children closed in 1980. Burford states that there were 3 categories of children in the cottage homes: children whose foster placements had broken down and “who needed further rehabilitation”; siblings who could not cope with being separated and who needed to be kept together as a family; and children “who could not cope in a family lifestyle” (Burford, 1989, p.25). The children in the 3 cottages were prepared for future foster care placements by the Sisters, together with social workers from Centacare.

Burford writes that by 1989, the only cottage still operating was at 12 Alexandra Avenue. It was used as an “emergency holding centre”, providing temporary care for children until they could be returned to family or placed in foster care. She also states that on occasion, the Sisters provided mothers with respite care by accommodating children at Mary MacKillop Haven, in Hunters Hill (Burford p.25).

The Centre also provided services to single pregnant women, carrying on the work of St Anthony’s Home Croydon. Burford states that in 1989, it provided “full residential and medical care” for up to 15 young women at a time. One woman who made a submission to the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices Inquiry (2012) described being at the institution throughout her pregnancy in 1982. She remembered that the only counselling residents received was from a social worker employed by Centacare (the Catholic adoption agency). She wrote that residents usually had their babies at St Margaret’s Hospital (submission 313).

From 1980 to 1985, there was a Home on the site called St Gerard’s which catered to families in crisis. It also received children referred to St Gerard’s from the government-run Montrose Child Protection Unit. St Gerard’s was located in what had been the maternity hospital at St Anthony’s Home. Children at St Gerard’s were cared for by Sisters of St Joseph with the help of Centacare social workers.

The Centre also provided residential services for children with disabilities. A group of 6 children aged between 9 and 13 stayed at the institution from Monday to Friday while attending special schools in the area. Four groups of 6 children stayed at the Centre on weekends from 5pm Friday to 5pm Sunday, one group of 6 at a time, to provide respite care for their families (Burford, p.27).

The Centre for Care also provided day care services.

In 2003 St Anthony’s and St Joseph’s Centre of Care stopped providing residential and foster care, although it continued to provide a range of early intervention and family support programs.

In 2004 the organisation changed its name to St Anthony’s Family Care.