Families SA was transferred from the former Department for Families and Communities to the new Department for Education and Child Development in 2011. Families SA continues to provide child protection and family support services. The Youth Justice function of Families SA is now part of the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion. In 2016, Families…
The collection Records of the South Australia Youth Remand and Assessment Centre contains logs, admission/ intake cards and property disposition forms related to the South Australia Youth Remand and Assessment Centre, Vaughan House and a number of other Government-run institutions for children operating between 1961 and 1999. Access Conditions A Research Centre Members card, obtainable…
The Adoption of Children Act 1925 (Act No. 1692/1925) commenced on 17 December 1925. Its long title was ‘An Act relating to the Adoption of Children’. It introduced a system of legal adoption of children in South Australia for children under the age of 15 years. It was repealed by the Adoption of Children Act…
The Aborigines Act 1934 (Act No. 2154/1934) combined the provisions of the previous 1911 and 1923 Aborigines Acts. Its full title was ‘An Act to consolidate certain Acts relating to the protection and control of the aboriginal and half-caste inhabitants of South Australia.’ The Act was passed on 18 October 1934 and commenced on 1…
The Aboriginal Orphans Act (No 12 of 7 and 8 Vic, 1844) was passed and commenced on 28 August 1844. Its full title was: An Ordinance to Provide for the Protection, Maintenance, and Up-Bringing of Orphans and other Destitute Children of the Aborigines. It was repealed by the Aborigines Act 1911 on 7 December 1911….
Elizabeth Downs Cottage was opened by the Adelaide Central Methodist Mission at Elizabeth Downs in 1976. In the mid to late 1970s, as a response to the government’s push to close large congregate care institutions and replace them with smaller group care, the Methodist Church closed Lentara and established a number of Cottage Homes in…
The National Archives of Australia (NAA) was established in 1998. It was formerly known as the Australian Archives. The National Archives collects, preserves and makes publicly available records of the Australian government. The collection includes records related to family history research, as well as records relevant specifically to child welfare and child migration. The head…
Industrial Schools were institutions where children could receive industrial training. It was a model borrowed from England. The central idea was that neglected children with living parents needed to be taught to be industrious and be able to support themselves in the future. Notions about poverty in the nineteenth century saw poor people as lazy…
The Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme was established by the South Australian government in 2015. The Scheme was for South Australian members of the Stolen Generations who were forcibly removed from their families and culture. Under the criteria of the Scheme, people who were Aboriginal and removed from their families in South Australia before 31 December…
In December 2018, the UK government announced they were establishing a payment scheme for former British Child Migrants. The scheme was for people who had been separated from their families and sent overseas as part of the UK government’s participation in child migration programs. The payment scheme was established in response to the Interim Report…