The Citizens Welfare Service of Victoria (CWS) came into being in 1947. Previously it was known as the Charity Organisation Society of Melbourne. The name change coincided with a change in focus towards casework and counselling, employing only professionally trained social workers and expanding its 'client group' into Melbourne's northern and western suburbs. The CWS ran a foster care program in the 1950s, and a hostel for girls and young women in Kew from 1964 to 1967. The organisation became known as the Drummond Street Relationship Centre from 1996 until 2010, when it was renamed Drummond Street Services.
1887 - 1947 Charity Organisation Society of Melbourne
1947 - 1996 Citizens Welfare Service of Victoria
1996 - drummond street services
Sources used to compile this entry: Francis, Rosemary, 'Charity Organisation Society of Melbourne (1887 -)', in Australian Women's Register, National Foundation for Australian Women, 2003, http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0630b.htm; 'Citizens Welfare Service - Justice and Healing', published on website of drummond street services, https://ds.org.au/citizens-welfare-services-justice-healing/ accessed 7 October 2020.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 27 November 2017, Last modified: 7 October 2020
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E001059b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License