NRS-19728 | Admission and discharge register [Brush Farm Infants Home, Eastwood]

Full description

This volume records details of admissions and discharges from Brush Farm Infants Home, which was opened in the grounds of Brush Farm Home, Eastwood, in November 1968. From August 1980 it became a home for the temporary residential care of disabled children, mainly for respite care.

The format of the register consists of double page entries arranged chronologically by admission date, with one page recording admissions to the facility and the facing page recording discharges. Each line provides the details of an individual resident, so their admission and discharge details are on the same line.

Details recorded in the register vary over time. The initial entries record date of admission, name, date of birth, religion, from whom received and address (e.g. parents, or another facility), admission remarks (e.g. temporary care), date of discharge, to whom discharged and address, how placed, and discharge remarks (e.g. medical notes). Although the register retains these column headings throughout, over time these were either manually changed, or the details recorded do not reflect the column headings.

Later entries retain date of admission, name, date of birth, from who received and address, date of discharge, and to whom discharged. Additional information added over time includes age, whether the resident was male or female, who referred them (e.g. school, doctor), the reason temporary care was provided (e.g. single working parent, parents holidaying, parents spending time with other children) plus reason code, number of days spent in the home, whether or not the visit was a first placement, whether other disabilities were present, and the geographical region from which the resident came and to where they went after the visit.

Statistics relating to the number of admissions and discharges are also periodically recorded from August 1980 onwards. An index of the entries was begun in the back of the book, but these only cover the period from August to September 1980.