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.
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.
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.
There is one sequence of files attributed to Queen Victoria Hospital:
- file numbers A2650 – A3972
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 attributed to Queen Victoria Hospital consist of two registers listing ‘Babies ready for Adoption and Fostering’.
There may also be additional files relating to Queen Victoria Hospital outside of these number ranges.
Adoption records, McArthur Street estrays (Adoption Information Service) (1967–74)
File; Unappraised
Content: This is a collection of an assortment of records attributed to several different adoption agencies.
There are four record types attributed specifically to Queen Victoria Hospital:
- List of names of babies for adoption, arranged by name of institution receiving each baby, 1967–70
- Registers listing ‘Babies for Adoption’, 1968–73
- Monthly Finalised Adoption Application Orders listed by adoptive applicant name., 1970–74
- Alphabetical index of applicants, adoptive parents, file references A2000–A3999
Consent to adoption orders (1942–44)
File; Unappraised
Content: A single file containing forms completed by mothers of infants consenting to an adoption order for the child named. Information in the forms includes: babies’ names, mothers’ names, addresses and signatures, and signatures of witnesses.
The forms relate to children born at a number of different hospitals. The mother’s addresses (and those of witnesses) indicate that the mothers were a mix of protestant and catholic.
Reviewed 21 September 2016