VPRS 18081 Family Group Homes Review Summary and Reports

Full description

The purpose of the records was to conduct a review of Family Group Homes during the period 1980-1981.

Family Group Home is the name given to a model of care where small groups of children were accommodated in buildings that approximate the size and form of a normal family home. In Victoria, this model became increasingly popular from the late 1940s, as congregate care of large groups of children (for example, in dormitories) began to be phased out. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Department encouraged non-government agencies to move from providing accommodation in large institutionalised children's homes to family group home care.

Initially, organisations in Victoria made the transition towards the family group home model by building smaller 'cottages' on the existing sites of children's homes. This approach was taken by Methodist Homes for Children, which established cottages where smaller groups of children lived with cottage parents. In 1952, the new Orana homes were built according to this model of a 'village' of cottages on one site.

When the Victorian government established its family group home program in 1956, the homes were situated in ordinary streets in Melbourne's northern suburbs. This 'scattered' family group home model was adopted by Kildonan Homes for Children. The sale of the Kildonan Children's Home in Burwood in 1960 funded the purchase of family group homes in the eastern suburbs. By 1962 ten separate family group homes operated in Melbourne. By 1976 there were over 230 government and non-government family group homes across Victoria.

At the time of the review there were 22 agencies operating 109 family group homes across 12 regions. The capacity of the units varied from 4 to 8 children. The Department of Community Welfare Services opened its first family group home in 1957. At the time of the review it was responsible for 69 homes across 14 regions. The Director-General of the Department of Community Welfare Services requested at the end of 1980 that a review be undertaken on the functioning of the Family Group Home program across the State. This was to be the first review of the Family Group Home operation.

According to Departmental documentation, family group home care aims to provide a family-like atmosphere which implies that there are adequate male and female adult models, that the children's ages are graduated so that it approximates the likely age distribution in a normal family and that siblings of both sexes are placed together. In addition, it implies that the care provided is continuous and that the daily life style approximates that of normal families in that the routine, although regular, is flexible, rather than being rigid and formal and that cottage parents act as normal parents in that they are involved in local schools and clubs, attend activities and meetings which are important to the children, and share leisure activities with the children.

The review was undertaken over a period of 9 months and involved 5 main tasks:

- The collection of data from regional centres and the Agencies concerned on children currently placed; children placed since regionalisation; staff selected; turnover of children and staff; details on supervisors and caseworkers.

- The collection of data from cottage mothers.

- Interviews with relevant people,

- An analysis of the data collected,

- Formulation of recommendations based on the data.