VPRS 17823 Infant Life Protection Register- Applications to Board Out Infants - State Ward and Non-Ward Infants

Full description

This series comprises of Infant Life Protection Registers - Applications to Board Out Infants which were maintained from 1905 until 1972, by the Neglected Children's Department (1887-1924), and the Children's Welfare Department (1924-1960), the Social Welfare Branch (1960-1971), and Social Welfare Department (1971-1979). The registers provide an index to applications received by the Department (usually from the birth mother or father) to board out infants to foster parents or nurses, without the birth parents losing guardianship of the child. The registers also record information around the placement of the child with a Registered Person in a Registered Home, and the details of payments to be made by the birth parents for upkeep of the child.


The system of Boarding Out of Infants commenced in Victoria in 1874 with the passing of the Neglected and Criminal Children's Act. The system of Boarding Out had been proposed in response to the Royal Commission into Charitable Institutions, conducted in 1870, which advocated boarding out on the grounds of economy, as the charitable institutions could no longer cope with the numbers of children requiring care. Children not able to be cared for by their birth parents could be boarded out with a registered nurse or foster carer. In 1883 the Public Health Amendment Act made local health boards responsible for overseeing the registration of children placed in the homes of people other than their natural family. Inspection and regulation of these placements did not commence until 1887, with the passing of the Neglected Children's Act. This Act also introduced the requirement for parents to pay maintenance for the upkeep of the child.


The Infant Life Protection Act 1890 introduced greater regulations and requirements to birth parents and to foster care providers in relation to the care and maintenance of the child, and requirements for registration of licensed premises. In 1907, the enacting of the Infant Life Protection Act transferred the administration of infant life protection measures to the Chief Secretary and the Department for Neglected Children, later known as the Children's Welfare Department in the Chief Secretary's Department. The passing of the Infant Life Protection Act 1907 (No.2102) was partly in response to concerns about 'baby farming'. The Act required parents to register voluntary foster placements with the Neglected Children's Department and pay for the upkeep of the child or risk the child becoming a ward of the state. An infant was defined in this Act as any child under five years of age. Under the Children's Maintenance Act 1919, mothers without sufficient means of support could apply to the Department for financial assistance toward the maintenance of their children, rather than have the children committed to the Department's care.