VPRS 17838 Child Case History Files

Full description

This series consists of Child Case History Files created and maintained at the Allambie Reception Centre (VA 5033). The files served to document and monitor the emotional, medical and intellectual development of children admitted to Allambie and provide an individual history of children received into the care of the Centre (principally) from 1977 to 1990, although a few files survive from 1973 to 1976.

The files were initially created by attaching the protection application papers which accompanied a child's admission. Up until 1987, in cases where two or more siblings were admitted together, a single family file was created for all client siblings (this was quite typical in the case of very young children). These files were often separated at a later date when children were separated due to age or other circumstances; however, as a rule, family files used after 1987 were broken down into individual files. After 1987, only individual client files were created for new admissions to the Centre. Older files consist of plain manila folders with ongoing assessments, school reports and so on added by social workers and administrators.

By contrast, documentation in the post 1985 Department of Community Services Institutional Client Files (green covers) is divided into two sections: official pro-forma such as admission details, long-term planning reports et cetera; and social workers' notes and assessments by specialists such as doctors and psychiatrists. Files have been arranged in alphabetical groups by client surname and year of admittance. When a child was transferred to a short-term unit, their file went with them. When a child was transferred to a medium-term unit, their file remained at Allambie. Once a child was discharged, files were returned to their year of admittance alphabetical grouping.