In 1971, the Methodist Department of Childcare merged with the Presbyterian Department of Social Services to create the Presbyterian and Methodist Child Care Service. Graeme Gregory was the Director. The merger led to a reorganisation of the adoption services of the Presbyterian and Methodist Babies’ Homes. The Child Care Service was the sole Victorian agency supervising inter-country adoptions and placements of children from Vietnam during the 1970s. From 1971, the arrangement of adoptions and supervision of placements was carried out by Methodist Babies’ Home staff.
In 1971 the Presbyterian Babies Home and the Methodist Babies Home were amalgamated to form the Copelen Street Family Centre. Together the Centre and Presbyterian and Methodist Child Care Service offered a wide network of services to support family life. This included counselling for single mothers, including those living at the Presbyterian Sisterhood and those at the short-term accommodation unit for single mothers and their children at Eden Court in Ascot Vale. The foster care and adoption programs were staffed by Child Care Service social workers who also worked with families and children connected to Kildonan and Orana Children’s Homes, Kilmany Park farm-home for boys and the Presbyterian Babies Home.
From
1971
To
1977?
Alternative Names
Child Care Services of the Uniting Church
Child Care Service of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches
Methodist Child Care Service