A Holiday Home was an institution designed to provide short-term accommodation for children in need. Some children from other institutions were sent to spend holiday periods at Holiday Homes while staff were on leave. Children were also sent from institutions for temporary stays in private homes during holiday periods. The parents in these homes were…
A hostel was one type of institution for young people, usually those leaving children’s Homes or reformatories, to prepare them for life after ‘care’. Hostels generally catered for young people from around the age of 15. They assisted former residents of orphanages and children’s Homes with the transition to paid employment and independent living. The…
The Homemaker Service, funded by the Tasmanian government, and located within the Department of Social Welfare, and later, the Department of Community Welfare, began in February 1976. It was modelled on a similar service already in place for Aboriginal families which the Commonwealth government funded. Homemakers worked with families in crisis on a short term…
Homefinders were people who worked to find places for children who needed foster parents or apprenticeships. The term was used in New South Wales, and was borrowed from American charities. George Ardill of the Sydney Rescue Work Society used the term in his publication The Rescue, and it was used by other Sydney charities. The…
Holiday hosts looked after children from institutions for weekends or short stays during school holiday periods, so that staff employed at the children’s Home could take leave. The Senate’s ‘Forgotten Australians’ report (2004) noted that the use of holiday hosts was ‘often undertaken in an uncoordinated manner with expediency rather than child welfare being a…