Church of Christ (adoption agency)

Church of Christ (Adoption Agency) history in brief

According to the index of defunct files from the (former) Adoption Information Service, more than 600 separate adoption records were received from the Church of Christ Adoption Agency.

In about 1992, an old adoption register and 11 individual adoption files arrived in the post from the Church of Christ. These records are not listed in the defunct register. For any enquiry concerning a Church of Christ adoption, these records should also be searched.

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 & Connect 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 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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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 both records created by the Department and 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 the records of the various former agencies, numbered the files sequentially with an ‘A’ prefix and created a full index.

Files in this sequence attributed to the Church of Christ Social Services Department are numbered in the ranges:

• A3973 to A4586
• A4604 to A4688.

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. The records management unit allocated these records 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.

Records in the second transfer of records attributed to the Church of Christ Adoption Agency are:

• A register relating to adoption
• A file containing documents relating to several adoptions.

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Name index cards of adoptions: Church of Christ and Hartnett House (1920–79)

Card; Permanent (VPRS Number 18074 / P0001)

Content: The indexes were produced by adoption agencies to provide a record of adoptions arranged through the agencies.

Unit 1: Church of Christ Adoption Agency indexes by birth mothers’ names.

One is an index (A–Z) by birth mother’s name for babies born during the late 1960s through the early 1970s.

Second index (A–L) by baby’s birth name for babies born during the late 1960s through the early 1970s.

Third index by birth mother’s name (surnames from the letter ‘W’) for births during the late 1960s through the early 1970s.

Unit 2: Church of Christ Adoption Agency indexes by birth mothers’ AND adoptive parents’ names.

One is for surnames beginning ‘A–G’

Second for surnames beginning ‘H–R’

They contain adoptions information for the period 1920 through the early 1960s. This unit includes adoption reference numbers.

Unit 3: two indexes: Hartnett House and Church of Christ Adoption Agency

One: Hartnett House. It is indexed by baby’s surname. It includes date of birth; date of admission to the home; date of discharge from the home. It covers the period from the 1960s through to the 1970s.

Two (smaller): Church of Christ. It is indexed by baby’s surname. It includes date of birth; date of admission to the home; date of discharge from the home. It covers the period from 1937 through to the 1970s, with the majority of cards being for births during the 1970s.