Melbourne Stake Relief Society, (Adoption Agency) (1970–79)

Melbourne Stake Relief Society (Adoption Agency) history in brief

The Melbourne Stake Relief Society is another name for the Adoption Agency run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (previously the Mormons).

The agency used to run its own adoption information service and requests were directed to LDS Family Services, Armadale VIC 3133 Telephone: (03) 9822 3766.

LDS Family Services transferred its records to DHHS Archives in December 2015.

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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 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 case files and Adoption Information Service (AIS) case files, Latter Day Saints (LDS) Family Services (1970–79)

File; Unappraised

Content: Adoption case files and Adoption Information Service files, created and maintained by the Church of Latter day Saints in its role as a registered adoption agency. The Church ceased to be a registered Adoption Agency in 1979, and registration as an Adoption Information Service ceased in 2014.

There are three sequences of files, each arranged in alphabetical order.

• Adoption Information Service case files:
  o Green file cover – Information relating to birth parents, listed by birth parent surname.

• Adoption files:
  o Yellow file cover – Information relating to adoptions which were either in process or finalised, listed by surname of adoptive parents.

• AIS files:
  o Buff file cover – AIS enquiries, files relating to parents wanting to adopt and to find a placement for their child/children.

The records were transferred to DHHS Archives by the successor agency, LDS Family Services, in December 2015.