Warning about distressing information
This guide contains information that some people may find distressing. If you experienced abuse as a child or young person in an institution mentioned in this guide, it may be a difficult reading experience. Guides may also contain references to previous views, policies and practices that are regrettable and do not reflect the current views, policies or practices of the department or the State of Victoria. If you find this content distressing, please consult with a support person either from the Department of Health and Human Services or another agency.
Disclaimer
Please note that the content of this administrative history is provided for general information only and does not purport to be comprehensive. The department does not guarantee the accuracy of this administrative history. See Find & for more detail on the history of child welfare in Australia.
List of records held by the department
For information relating to the central management of care leavers and wards of state, please consult the guide to Central department wardship and out-of-home care records. These collections date back to the 1860s and include ward registers, index cards and ward files.
Adoption
Defunct agency adoption records (Adoption Information Service) (1920–82) and (1940–97)
File; Permanent (VPRS Number 17943 / P0001) and Unappraised
Content: The Adoption Act 1984 allowed approved agencies to arrange and negotiate the adoption of children. It also required that agencies keep certain records. If an agency’s approval or operations ceased, their records were to be forwarded to the Secretary of the Department.
The Act also required the Department to establish an adoption information service (AIS), with access to records created by the Department as well as the records of the former approved agencies.
The adoption records now held by the Department were created by as many as 30 different adoption agencies that were in operation at different times. After the AIS was formed, circa 1985, it gathered together the records of the various former agencies, numbered the files sequentially with an “A” prefix and created a full index.
Files attributed to Box Hill Hospital in this sequence are numbered in the range:
- A4629 to A4831
Content of files will vary but may include.
- Application to Adopt form
- Documents and correspondence supporting the application.
- Consent to Adopt and correspondence.
- Legal documents
- Birth certificates
- Photographs
Other AIS unnumbered adoption files and card indexes were transferred at a later date and were allocated different numbering systems. The categories of files were grouped by the adoption agency they related to and the function of the file. Some of the file sequences also hold an "A" prefix as adoption files. However, the numbering system is separate to the first collection transferred from the AIS.
A small number of records (within the second transfer of records) are identified as adoption consent forms attributed to Box Hill Hospital.
Reviewed 21 September 2016