Agent TypeOrganisationActivities & OccupationsGovernment DepartmentCare ProviderHistoryThe main responsibility of the Department for Neglected Children upon its establishment was the maintenance and management of 'neglected' children including: supervision of State wards in receiving houses and probationary schools, provision of trade apprenticeships programs, 'boarding out' of children in the service of persons willing to take charge of their maintenance and education, provision of assistance to non-wards.
The Children's Welfare Department was established in 1924 to replace the Department for Neglected Children. The renaming of the Department signified the Government's awareness of the stigma which had become attached to the term 'neglected child', and did not reflect a change in functional responsibility or status. In 1928 the Department became responsible for the adoption of State wards, and for the regulation of the employment of children in street trading. In 1946, the Director of the Department assumed guardianship of migrants under twenty-one years of age who arrived in Victoria without parents or relatives. In 1954, the Department for Reformatory Schools was abolished, and the responsibility for juvenile offenders and reformatory schools (or juvenile schools) was assumed by the Children's Welfare Department.
From c.1956, the Children's Welfare Department became increasingly involved in delivering institutional care to wards of the state. In December 1956, the Department opened Sutton Grange, a Home for school age and pre school children. Sutton Grange was established to alleviate overcrowding at the Turana Reception Centre.
From 1956, the Department also established a number of state-run Family Group Homes.
Children's Welfare Department (1901-1960-). University of Melbourne Archives, accessed 14/02/2026, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/59459
