Committee of Enquiry into Child Care Services in Victoria (Norgard Inquiry)

Description

Agent TypeOrganisationActivities & OccupationsGovernment inquiriesHistoryThe Enquiry into Child Care Services in Victoria was announced by Premier R.J. Hamer in December 1974. Its final report, from June 1976, is often referred to as 'the Norgard Report' (after the Committee Chairman, Mr J.D. Norgard). The Enquiry led the Committee to a two-fold conclusion: 'not only is there a disconcerting degree of malfunction in many aspects of the child welfare system, but the system itself is in many ways inappropriate for contemporary society'. The Norgard Report called for a 'fundamental revision and reorganisation' of Victoria's child and family welfare system. Its recommendations framed the basis of the 1978 White Paper 'The future of social welfare in Victoria'. The Enquiry was also critical in the development of the Community Welfare Services Act 1983 which, amongst other things, abolished the court order commonly known as State Ward(ship), (that is, guardianship of children was transferred to the head of the child welfare department until the child’s 18th birthday).

Series

Dates

Date1975-1976

University of Melbourne Archives

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Committee of Enquiry into Child Care Services in Victoria (Norgard Inquiry)