Forrest Crescent Family Home, Alice Springs (1972 - )

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Forrest Crescent Family Home was opened by the government in 1972. It was one of two Family Homes opened in Alice Springs that year. The other Home was known as the Parke Crescent Family Home. Both were named for their street addresses.

The building of Family Homes in Alice Springs was first proposed by the Welfare Branch of the Northern Territory Administration in 1967 because of crowded conditions in the Alice Springs Receiving Home and concerns that this situation made it 'impossible to segregate difficult cases from the short and long term residents'. The new Homes would 'cater for long term residents, irrespective of age, under normal home conditions'.

When the Forrest Crescent Home was opened in 1972, it was run by the Welfare Division which had succeeded the Welfare Branch. From the end of 1972 until 1974 the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs took over control of child welfare in the Northern Territory and was therefore responsible for all government Homes for children. From 1974 the Forrest Crescent Family Home came under the control of the Community Welfare Section of the Northern Territory Administration.

The Forrest Crescent Family Home was purpose-built to provide long term accommodation for up to nine children under the supervision of a Cottage Mother and her husband. The cottage parents were provided with rent-free accommodation and were paid a subsidy for each child under their care as well as a supervisory allowance.

The Forrest Crescent Family Home took in both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children from babies to teenagers for various periods of time, often long term. The Home had the capacity to take in a number of children from a single family.

In 2017, it is known as Forrest House, and while still owned by the NT Department of Health, it is managed by Anglicare NT.