Quote this number to access your records: Public Record Office Victoria reference numbers, VPRS 18069/P0001, VPRS 18069/P0002
These records are held by Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, State Government of Victoria (2021 - current).
Voluntary Children’s Homes Files is an archival series with contents dating from 1921 to 1989. It has the Public Record Office Victoria series number of VPRS 18069/P0001. The records in this series were created by the interactions between the Victorian government and Homes in Victoria run by charitable and religious organisations. The Voluntary Children’s Homes Files contain information about institutions and their administration, as well as about the children who lived in these Homes.
Some records in this series are on open access.
Others are restricted to the public (for a period of 99 years from the date of the record) because they contain personal or private information about children.
The records in Voluntary Children’s Homes Files document interactions between many Homes run by charitable and religious organisations in Victoria, with the government departments responsible for child welfare for the period 1921 to 1989.
Separate files were registered for separate children’s Homes, or care provider organisations.
The information about institutions found in Voluntary Children’s Homes Files includes: annual reports, newspaper clippings, inspector’s reports, applications for grants, applications to be declared an Approved Children’s Home, staff records and correspondence with the Department.
The information about children found in Voluntary Children’s Homes Files includes: details of placements, holiday placements for State Wards, allegations of abuse against children, lists of children’s names, medical records and correspondence with the Department.
The Finding Records website has detailed information about the contents of Voluntary Children’s Homes Files – the pages on Finding Records about particular Homes provide listings of any files within the Voluntary Children’s Homes Files series relating to that Home.