On this page:
Timeline of wardship records
Description of records in the timeline.
VPRS 6757 Index Book to State Ward Registers 1864–1968
Three indexes in volume format retained over these years: alphabetical index to children’s surnames of parents and the‘term of expiry’ book which records when children turned 18 (based on their date of birth).
VPRS 4527 Ward Registers (known as Children’s Registers 1864–1887) 1864–1966
Commencement of the Children’s Registers (also known as Ward Registers). Starting with child number one in 1864 and ending with child c.96,000 in 1978. Children over 15 years were excluded from 1960. Early registers are from institutions, initially alongside acentral system, later only the central system survives as an active sequence. Registers are arranged chronologically by dateof admission, and later editions have an alpha index in the front.
VPRS 17880 Ward term expiries (birthdays) 1893–1985
Documents the dates on which the terms of wardship for wards of the State would expire. The date equalled the 18thbirthday of the wards. Entries are recorded chronologically with dates for boys and girls recorded separately.
VPRS 17879 Index to parents of wards 1910–1986
Alphabetical by the names of parents of wards of the state. Children’s names are not included but the ward numbersallocated to children are recorded. This index provides a means of accessing state ward case files.
VPRS 18194 Register of ward deaths, Family Welfare Division 1920–1984
A register of deaths of children who were wards of the state in residential care at the time of their death.
VPRS 18192 Minute book, Street Trading Board 1932–1970
The Street Trading Board’s role included controlling street trading activities of children in public places, specifically in theCity of Melbourne. The board issued licenses to sell newspapers and monitored child street trading.
VPRS 10071 State ward case files, all wards (to June 1961); Family Welfare Division ward case files (July 1961–1987), single
number system 1935–1987
Children’s files (also known as Ward files) for every child who was a ward of the state in this period. Files commence c1920but only survive for active cases post WW2.
VPRS 16749 Client Files, Family and Adolescent Services Division, Single Number System 1946–1991
Non-Ward YTC files, for children committed by the courts to a youth training centre but were not already on a protectiveorder. These utilise a number system starting at 50,000 and going to 55,000.
VPRS 18195 Register of Section 20 admissions of children to the care of the Family Welfare Division 1958–1974
A central, summary record that documented the admission of children to the care of the department under Section 20 ofthe Social Welfare Act 1958.
VPRS 17954/P0001 Client Management Records, Family and Youth Welfare Division 1960-1978
This series consists of a selection of remnant files from the Social Welfare Department, comprising: Trainee Intake andAssessment Files; Trainee Information Files; Youth Division Case History Files. Most of these records document the casemanagement of clients at departmental level.
Regional Services Client Files (Individuals and Families) also known as ‘Family Files’ (multiple accessions) 1960s–1997
With onset of regionalisation, Regional Family files created in each office and encompass all of the departments thenprograms (that is, adult and children). Files are family, not individual centric and provide detailed picture into local regionalissues. These records are highly valuable for Aboriginal families. This collection represents all the regions that transferredtheir records into the central department’s archives in the early 1990s. But most of these records were not transferred ontohead office and were not retained.
Regional Services Family Cards (relates to Regional Services Client Files (Individuals and Families) 1960s–1997
Some of the regional filing systems include the social worker’s Family Cards which were compiled to chart the ‘constellation’of the family unit or extended family. They are large cards though these were often placed into the files when the systemceased. Generally they are alphabetically arranged in archives and are held in the Regional Services Client Files.
VPRS 16747 Youth Welfare Division files 1961–1978
Youth Welfare Division for children over 15 years of age.
Files use an annual single number with A-B prefix to identify the first orsecond six months of the year. For example, A78.0001 was created in July–December 1977.
Blocks of 1000 issued from withinthe sequence for specific types of clients.
VPRS 16205 Record cards, State wards / clients, alphabetical 1961–1985
Index cards were created for each of the discrete client file systems and later merged into a single collection, often withindividual clients’ cards stapled together.
Family Welfare Division Admission Registers 1961–1984
A central summary record documenting the admission of children to the care of the Family Welfare Division of the department, for the period of time covered by the registers.
VPRS 17863/P0001 Youth Welfare Division - Record Cards 1961-1990
These record cards were used to provide a summary history of all youth justice clients who passed through, or wereadmitted to, Turana between 1961 and 1990. Since all people sentenced under the Juvenile Justice Program were receivedat the Turana Youth Training Centre.
VPRS 18190/P0001 Statistical Returns of Aboriginal Children placed in ‘Approved Voluntary Child Homes’ (1966)
A copy of a statistical return of Aboriginal ward and non-ward children resident in approved children’s homes as at30 September 1966. It includes names, ages and other information about the children.
State ward litigation files, general correspondence files, annual–single number system, Department of Community
Services Date range 1983–1998
These files document litigation matters relating to state wards.
Statutory Client Information System (SCIS) 1986–2008
Computerised system for all child protection and criminal cases: Statutory Client Information System (SCIS). All childrenregistered were given a sequential number from 100-0-001 to 103/8/829.
Children at Risk Register (CARR) 1988–1992
An early prototype of child protection ‘alert’ system – since overtaken by other systems.
Client and Service Information System (CASIS) 1992–2007
A workflow-intensive, child protection/client management system that superseded both the Children at Risk Register (CARR)and the Statutory Client Information System (SCIS). Case workers entered data and material live into the system, which wasa cross between a database and a document management system.
RecFind 1994–2001
RecFind was the corporate system used to record the location of all Department of Health and Community Services paperregistry files. Keyclient-related information – name, date of birth, location – was captured in the client file.
Juvenile Justice Client and Case Management System (JJCIS) 1994–2007
JJCIS was implemented to record information about young people and key events occurring while they were clients ofJuvenile Justice. The information provided managementwith workload data and statistics, and demographics of the Juvenile Justice population. These records replaced the YouthTraining Centre Trainee Files.
TRIM 2001 to current
The TRIM electronic document and records management system adopted for managing the Department’s electronic dataand hard copy records.
Client Relationship Information System (CRIS) 2007 to current
CRIS replaced CASIS as the primary electronic file system used to document client support information. All people who areeligible for services and request support must have a CRIS file created.
Client Relationship Information System for Service Providers (CRISSP) 2007 to current
CRISSP is a web-based client information and case management system offered to community service organisations thatare funded to provide Child Protection Placement and Support, Disability Services, Juvenile Justice and Early ChildhoodIntervention Services.
Juvenile Justice Client Relationship Information System (CRIS) 2007 to current
JJCRIS replaced JJCIS to record information about young people and key events occurring while they were clients ofJuvenile Justice.
Reviewed 24 April 2019