VPRS 8848 Children's Court Maintenance Register

Full description

This series consists of the register which records payments made by parents under orders made under the Neglected Children's Act 1890, and the later Children's Welfare Act 1924, at the Myrtleford Children's Court.

The single register extant has printed on its spine the words, "Maintenance Register" and contains entries for children admitted to care between the years 1915 to 1940. These entries relate to a small number of children and occupy folios 2 to 20 of the volume. Loose papers are inserted between pages or are pasted onto pages.

It is unlikely that maintenance orders were issued outside of the 1915-1940 date range. This is due to the presence of annotations in the volume which show that the register was accounted for in audits dating from 1894 to 1948.

It appears that the payments recorded relate to "liability of parents for maintenance" of children who were wards of the State (of the Department of Neglected Children under the 1890 Act) or inmates of reformatory schools. Part VII of the Neglected Children's Act contained provisions allowing the payment of maintenance to be ordered, varied and enforced. Later legislation, as well as earlier legislation, including the Neglected and Criminal Children's Act 1864, contained similar provisions.

The register is not a record of court proceedings but records information relating to court proceedings, amounts to be paid and payments made. It is not a certified record of proceedings but may be used to access the court record such as unit 4 of VPRS 674/P Court Registers and Records.