A borstal (or borstall) was a reformatory for young offenders aged about 16 to 21. The term was used between about 1920 and 1970. Click here to see the full Find & Connect glossary
Emergency care, being short term, immediate care for children in need, was provided in different ways. Government and non-government Homes provided emergency care. Emergency foster care was also sometimes available. A state’s main children’s ‘depot’ or receiving Home was sometimes used for emergency care. Click here to see the full Find & Connect glossary
Lying-in Home was a term to describe a maternity home from the late nineteenth century, a place ‘for the accommodation of females during their confinement and lying-in’, to quote the Western Australian State Children Act 1907. At a lying-in home, a mother could give birth with the help of a midwife (who might not have…
Approved Children’s Home was a term applied to Homes that had been certified for the care of children under the relevant state legislation. In Tasmania, under the Child Welfare Act 1960, Approved Children’s Homes were run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis. The government paid Managers maintenance for each child accommodated in the Home. In…
Admission Units were established by the South Australian Department for Community Welfare after the passing of the 1972 Community Welfare Act. A number of existing cottage Homes became units. Admission units were used for short term crisis care and for children deemed to have behavioural problems. Although units were intended to provide short term accommodation,…
Group Home was a term used in the late 1970s to refer to a Home for children and young people who required ‘therapeutic care’. Group homes could be either scattered (ie in the community) or clustered (located with other group Homes on a campus, usually where there had previously been a children’s Home). This type…
A Leprosarium was an institution or hospital specifically for people suffering from the disease, leprosy. As leprosy was incurable and infectious, lepers were generally placed in confined and/or isolated places. Institutions for people with leprosy were also called lazarets. Click here to see the full Find & Connect glossary
Probationary Schools were institutions for children considered to be exhibiting troublesome behaviour that was not serious enough to warrant placement in a reformatory. The schools provided what was referred to at the time as disciplinary training. There were 2 probationary schools in South Australia from 1900 until 1945, both run by the Salvation Army, the…
A Community Unit was a smaller group residential care unit. This term was used in South Australia from the 1970s for longer term small group care. Community Units were to provide care and support for a range of children in State ‘care’ including young people on remand or children considered to be at risk. Some…
A Convalescent Home was a place where children were sent to rest and recover from illnesses, or after a stay in hospital. Sometimes the term was used to describe a home for women suffering from sexually transmitted infections (such institutions were also known as Lock Hospitals or Contagious Diseases Hospitals). Click here to see the…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
