Childrens Court Advisory Unit

Children's Court Advisory Unit history in brief

The Social Welfare Act 1960 established a Social Welfare Branch of the Chief Secretary’s Department to replace the Children's Welfare Department. This Social Welfare Branch included youth and adult corrections as well as family welfare. Adult corrections were not separated until 1984, when the Office of Corrections was created.

The Children's Court Advisory Service was part of the Social Welfare Branch of the Chief Secretary's department (and its successor agencies), to provide advice to Courts and help them determine the most appropriate dispositions regarding young people brought before them. This service operated primarily to assist the various Melbourne Children's Courts and provide reports in relation to the following case matters:

• Irreconcilable Differences applications
• pre-sentence reports
• parole plans
• verbal reports
• a liaison function in respect of children from country Regions remanded to Turana and Winlaton.

In 2016, at Melbourne Children’s Court and at many other venues of the Children’s Court the Department of Health and Human Services has an officer of the Youth Justice Court Advice Service (YJCAS) in attendance.

YJCAS duties include:

• providing support and information to young people and their families;
• conducting assessments of young people; and
• providing advice and recommendation to the court.

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 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. For more information on the history of child welfare in Australia, see Find & Connect.

Sources

Department of Health and Human Services Records Management Unit agency history files.

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.

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Register of Wards Readmitted to Care of the Department (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1958-74)

Volume; Permanent VPRS 18208 / P0001

Content: A register of wards readmitted to the care of the Department, most likely after their original care order expired.
The primary reason for this record’s existence is unknown. The register is an exercise book with typical column format. Information recorded includes:

• Ward number
• Full name
• Date of birth
• Age
• Reason for Care Order
• Court date & location
• Order expiry date
• Mother’s name
• Father’s name
• Placement location
• Placement date
• Region

The entries are arranged chronologically by admission date.

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Register of Male Wards admitted to Turana/Baltara Reception Centre (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1964-89)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18207 / P0001

Content: A summary record attributed to the Children’s Court Advisory Service, documenting the admission of male wards aged 10 to14 years to Turana and Baltara Reception Centres.

Prior to October 1968, wards were admitted to Turana. From October 1968 (partway through the first book) wards were admitted to Baltara, which opened on the Turana site. Both served as the Family Welfare Division Reception Centre.

Each of the three books record the same basic information.

Sequential Number for each calendar year (allowing for an easy annual count of admissions)

• Date of Birth
• Full Name
• Date of Arrival
• Date of Departure
• Court + Date
• Result (Court Decision)
• Bail Result
• Reason for Reception
• Placement (whether home release, not returned, or to another facility)

The volume is assumed to have been created by the Children’s Court Advisory Service.

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Index of Wards transferred from Family Welfare Division to Youth Welfare Division (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1975-77)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18210 / P0001

Content: An index providing references to ward file numbers and to the dates clients were transferred from the Family Welfare Division to the Youth Welfare Division.

File number references may provide access to files in VPRS 10071 Ward Files. Transfer dates may provide access to entries in the Register of Family Welfare Transfers – researchers can find references to people in VPRS 16747 Youth Welfare Division Files.

The volume is in 26 sections labelled A to Z. Entries in each section record a number (the state ward number), client name, client date of birth and transfer date. There are no column headings and generally fewer than 40 entries per letter of the alphabet. While all entries under each letter are for clients with surnames beginning with that letter, entries are in roughly chorological order by transfer date, not in alphabetical order.

While the above uses can be made of this volume, it is not clear how it was used by its creators. The volume has entries that partially cover the years 1975–77.

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Client Account Management System ( CAMS ) records (1992-98)Register of Family Welfare Transfers, From Family to Youth (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1970-78)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18211 / P0001

Content: The title written on the cover is: “Register of Family Welfare Transfers, From Family to Youth”.

Until 1978, children under 15 in departmental custody were cared for by the Family Welfare Division (FWD) and those 15 years and older were cared for in the Youth Welfare Division (YWD). If the child was in custody and subject to a Children’s Court order the responsibility for the child was handed over to the YWD and a new file number reference for the child was created when the child turned 15. This series documents that process and records both the old, FWD ward number reference and the corresponding new YWD numbers.

In 1978, the Family and Adolescent Services Division superseded the FWD and this register refers to YWD VPRS 16747 containing the Youth Welfare Division case files. See that series for details of the administrative processes that created the files.

This series records Youth Welfare file numbers which were allocated at the time the case was transferred from family welfare to the youth welfare division. It is not certain but possible that this series is the register from which the youth welfare file numbers for transfers were allocated. There is also a series of index cards included in VPRS 16025 to which these entries relate.

Who created this series is not clear. However, given the relationship this series has to the files in VPRS 16747, the creating agencies are presumed the same.
In the P1 consignment, the extant volume records information in columns that vary over the length of the volume. At the tops of pages (or at the beginning of each relevant section) there appears either the letter A or B together with two digits, representing the financial year in which the transfer of responsibility took place. For example, for the financial year 1971–72, all transfers in the period 1 July to 31 December 1971 are on pages headed A72; all transfers between 1 January and 30 June 1972 are on pages headed B72.

Column headings at the beginning of entries in the volume are:

• YW No.:YW = Youth Welfare. This column contains a running number commencing from 1000 each 1 July. When combined with the page header (e.g A72 or B72) the running number becomes a youth welfare file number that appears in other records in various formats including A72/1010, A721010 and A72.1010. Files with these numbers can be found in VPRS 16747.
  The note to VPRS 16747 says there were different types of youth welfare files created. Those created in the block of numbers 1000 to 1999 identified children transferred into the Youth Welfare division from the Family Welfare Division.
• FW No.:FW = Family Welfare. This column contains a five digit number that is the ward number for the subject. The number may identify files in VPRS 10071.
• Name:Name of client.
• DOB:Date of birth of client.
• File:This column is sometimes empty and sometimes contains a tick against the entry. It is not present throughout the volume and was presumably used to indicate completion of some action associated with the client’s file/s.
• ED:This presumably means Expiry Date. Invariably, dates recorded in this column are 18 years later than the clients’ dates of birth (when the client turned 18 years of age).
• HF:NO entries observed.
• SW:This column contains initials/names of social workers to whom client files were referred.
• Transferred:This column contains the date the client, case or file was transferred from family to youth welfare services.
• 25C:There are no entries in this column which is discontinued after a few pages.

Entries in the volume in the P1 consignment commence at WF number 1050 (A70.1050) so it is likely that an earlier volume existed.
The last entry in the volume is number B73.1068 dated 3 March 1973. After this point, at least half the volume is blank with no indication if later entries are recorded elsewhere.

Three pages at the back of the volume contain information.

The last page is headed, “beginning July 1980/June 81 167(1)” and has entries in columns headed: Name; DOB; Sentence (all entries are for periods of imprisonment); Date of Transfer; No (the client’s ward number).

The second last page, headed “Sect 96 transfers”, has two entries with minimal information.

Ten pages back into the volume are seven entries headed, “Family welfare admissions to YTC” which record client name, date of birth and from where the client was admitted.

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Register of Supervision Orders Issued by the Children's Court (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1974-84)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18215 / P0001

Content: Registers of supervision orders issued by the Children’s Court of Victoria, created by the Children’s Court Advisory Service provided by Community Services Victoria.

These volumes are similar to those that register Children’s Court probation orders for the period 1961–84.

Separate sequences of registers for males and females to 1980; joint male and female registers after 1980.

Information is recorded in columns. The number of columns and their headings vary over time and may include:

• Court date
• Date received: [presumably the date the registering officer received the matter]
• defendant’s name
• date of birth
• age
• court: [presumably where the matter was heard]
• Exp: [expiry date]
• Length: [duration of the supervision order]
• supervising court: [presumably the court to which the defendant would be accountable]
• area
• special conditions
• number [a running number commencing form 1 each 1 July]
• File number: [a reference to the defendant’s departmental client file]

Volumes arranged chronologically by contents date range. Separate sequences for male offenders and female offenders from 1961–80; a combined male and female sequence from 1980–84. Internally, content is arranged chronologically by date the notification was received.

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Register of Pre Sentence Reports (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1976-85)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18214 / P0001

Content: A summary record (for the period covered) documenting children for whom the Children’s Court Advisory Service provided a pre-sentence report.
Both registers record the same basic information:

• Date of Receipt
• Full Name
• Age (or Date of Birth)
• Offences
• Name of Magistrate
• Court Location & Date
• Adjournment Date
• Where Assigned To
• Result (Court Decision)

The second register also records:

Sequential Number for each financial year (thus allowing for an easy annual count of admissions)

File Number reference (a reference to the Youth Justice Services – Client Case files)

At various places throughout the registers, columns may switch positions.

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Ward Temporary Accommodation Register (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1981-85)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18209 / P0001

Content: A central summary record documenting the admission of children to temporary accommodation in various children’s homes. The length of placement requested could be anywhere from a few days to a month.

The register is in a typical column format, and records the following information:

• Full name
• Age
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Admitting Reception Centre
• Date of admission
• Regional location of parents
• Type of application (by parents, mother, father, police, etc.)
• Length of placement requested
• Family constellation (parents and siblings)
• Child placed previously (Yes/No)
• Placement Extension (if applicable)
• Date of discharge
• Length of placement
• Where discharged to
• Whether admitted to wardship

The entries are arranged chronologically by date of admission.

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Ward Register (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1985)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18212 / P0001

Content: A folder recording summary information recorded by the Children's Court Advisory Service about children admitted to the state’s care (wards of the state).

This volume includes two systems of ward numbers. It is presumed that the Children's Court Advisory Service created the Ward Register to help manage ward files registered in either of the systems (some individuals have a ward number under both numbering systems).

Information is recorded in ward number order, commencing from ward number 84800 and finishing the first sequence of numbers at number 96186 (presumably the last ward number allocated in that sequence). The next page is headed, NEW SYSTEM STARTS AT 1000, and entries begin at new number 1001 and end at entry number 8833.

The first page of the volume records information about wards who absconded in October 1965. Stuck to it is the first sheet of sequential ward numbers, obscuring the original page content.

At the back of the book are two pages listing wards under the heading Abductions for the period 1964–69. This record appears to have been left incomplete or was simply a draft that was continued elsewhere.

In the main body of the volume, entries are made in two columns: one contains the ward number; the other the ward’s family name and initial. There are three sets of two columns on each page, and 100 entries per page.

The date created is unknown. Admission dates for wards listed range from June 1966 to July 1985. The entries are almost all in one handwriting suggesting that the record was created over a short time period. Given this uncertainty, a series date range of 1985 has been assumed.

A single volume with no apparent system of arrangement and control.

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Register of Orders and Reports (Children's Court Advisory Service) (1985-88)

Volume; Permanent VPRS Number 18213 / P0001

Content: Volumes detailing Orders issued by the Children's Court as well as various report types submitted to the Court.

The Register of Orders and Reports was part of the administrative interface between the court and clients, created to manage the delivery of youth support and correctional services administered by the Department of Community Services.

The following abbreviations are used in the volumes to describe types of orders and reports:

• CCP Probation Order
• SPO Supervision Order
• PSR Pre Sentencing Report
• PAR Youth Parole
• POR Parole Office Report
• INS Interstate SPO

Probation orders given by the Children's Court required that the young person be placed under the supervision of a department-appointed probation officer. The young person was to reside with the person specified by the court as the fit and proper guardian willing to undertake the young person’s care. The parent or guardian was to permit the probation officer to visit, and the period of probation must not exceed three years or the young person's eighteenth birthday. The length of probation orders could be decreased with the advice of the probation officer in consultation with the sentencing magistrate.

Supervision orders differed from probation orders in that the probation officer appointed to supervise a young person could give his/her parents or guardians any reasonable direction in writing in the interests of the young person’s welfare. If parents or guardians failed to fulfil these provisions, or if the young person lived in unsatisfactory conditions, the Court could cancel the supervision order and deal with the young person in any manner it saw fit.

Information recorded in the early Register of Orders and Reports from 1985 includes:

• Date
• Surname
• Given Name
• Initial Order:
• Additional Orders
• Region (location of the court)

From 29 January 1986, information recorded includes:

• Date received
• File Number

(File numbers are in the format, for example, 100-1-123, which are file numbers allocated in the Statutory Client Information System (SCIS) introduced in 1986. Some early file numbers are in the format 5-123 or 5/12, which were numbers from the previous Correctional Field Service numbering system.)

• Name
• DOB
• Order Date
• Period (of Sentence/Order)
• Court
• New Order
• Returned Order
• Region.

The end date for this series is not known but it may be as late as 1992 when the Client and Services Information System (CASIS) was introduced.

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Statistical Register of Ward Placements and Alphabetical Register of Interstate and Miscellaneous Correspondence (1976-84)

Volume; Unappraised

Content: The statistical register is a weekly count of the number of wards admitted to various departmental placements in the period February 1982 to June 1984.
The correspondence register notes basic information about correspondence received during 1976 to 1977 but includes no details of content or responses.
These items are assumed to have been created by the Children’s Court Advisory Service.

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Parole and Probation Registers and index cards (1957-73)

Card, Volume, Unappraised

Content: This mixed collection comprises

• Client Index Cards (contents circa 1977-1986)
• Probation and Parole Registers (contents 1957-1973)
• Notification Diaries of Court Listings Results (contents 1984-1987)
• Intake Books (contents 1974-1979)

These client index cards provide a summary record of an individual child's or young person's interaction with the Children's Court. Cards are arranged in alphabetical order by client surname and record the child's or young person's name, date of birth, file number, and date and subject of court order such as supervision order etc.

The entries in these four (three male and one female) Children's Probation Registers (contents 1961-1973) are arranged in chronological order according to the date of the child's or young person's court attendance. Entries record the client's name and age, LOP [?], registration number; court region, and offence. Marked 'Children's Court Melbourne Adult Female Probation' on the front page, entries in this Probation and Parole Register (contents 1957-1965) are arranged in chronological order according to the date of the court hearing. Entries include client's name and age, court region, whether special conditions exist (yes or no), officer, offence, date probation to, and number of probation years. The back of the volume is titled 'Adult Female Parole'. Entries in this register record date of parole order, date expired, client's name and age, registration number, officer's name, special conditions (if any), and offence.

The, entries in these five Notification Diaries of Court Listings Results are arranged in chronological order. The volumes record:

• person’s name
• date of birth
• offence
• file number (if any)
• region
• known record
• previous offence
• adjourned date if applicable
• conviction (whether admitted, discharged, fined, etc.)
  
• conviction period such as one or two years

The earliest Notification Diary is marked 'Dept of Community Welfare Children's Court Advisory Service 1984 Jan 1st-Sept 22'.
The five Intake Books (Clients Seen at Desk from Court) are arranged in chronological order and record:

• client's name,
• address,
• age,
• Intake Officer's initials

The front covers of a number of these volumes are marked 'This book is not to be removed from the switchboard and general office area. Daily intake from any area, from any (MCC) court are to be entered: name, address, intake officers initials to be recorded'. Some books are stamped `Social Welfare Department'.

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Probation Order Registers (1961-84)

Volume; Unappraised

Content: This collection comprises a number of volumes in which details of probation orders issued by the Children’s Court of Victoria are recorded.
The format and content of the records varies over time. Information is recorded in a number of volumes, most of which are hard covered but several appear to have had their covers removed. The titles written or adhered to the outside of volumes vary. Several are marked as being registers, while others include the words “Children’s Court” and “Probation Orders”. Most have the content date range marked on the covers.

There are separate sequences for males, females and later joint sequences for males and females. One volume is anomalous as it clearly states that it relates to adult female probations, but also includes, in headings inside, that it relates to the Children’s Court. It includes cases for both adult and juvenile/ child female offenders.
Information is entered in columns roughly chronologically by the date that the information was received. Entries in volumes are according to the financial year in which the registration took place, that is, they commence at registration number 1 each 1 July.

Column headings vary over time but may include:

• Date of receipt [of the information];
• court date;
• number [a running number commencing at 1 (one) each financial year];
• file number;
• offender’s name;
• Court [at which matter was heard];
• Court [supervising court];
• Date of Birth;
• Age of offender;
• Offence;
• Conditions;
• Ord Ent App;
• District or Suburb;
• New Client;
• New order;
• PSR Result;
• LOP [Length of Probation];
• Expire [date of expiry of probation];
• Change of Status.