VPRS 18029 Adoption File Registers (Files No 1-25635) - 1967-1990 (includes Special Needs, Inter Country, Non Ward, Foster Care & Solicitor Cases)

The Adoptions File Registers were created and maintained by the Adoptions section within the Social Welfare Branch / Division, and Department of Community Welfare Services / Community Services Victoria. All files created within the program between June 1967 and 1990 were recorded in these registers. The two registers in this series cover application files for foster care and adoption.File numbers were issued sequentially as each file was created. Entries are numbered sequentially by date of creation commencing from 1 through to 25635. Occasionally, some file numbers were not used, or used and then subsequently deleted or cancelled. Annotations in the first register record that certain files were destroyed. Therefore, physical files will not exist for all numbers. From mid-1990, the Departmental Region which had created the file is often noted in the register.In early 1990, ward files used within the adoptions program were being registered with an adoptions file number. These entries were written in the register in red pen, and note the relevant ward number and the file number of the applicant with whom the child was placed. It is not clear why the ward files, as a particular group, were top-numbered, although it is possible that some confusion existed during the implementation of the Permanent Care Unit (PCU) database in the period 1990-1991. The PCU database generated a new file number automatically when a new record was entered; originally, administrative staff may not have realised that it is possible to enter an existing non-PCU file number into the database.Related series VPRS 4979 also documents applications for adoption, arranged into categories of Protestant applicants and Catholic applicants.The registers document applications for foster care and adoption of children, and include the case file numbers of children and applicants, and information regarding the granting of an adoption order by a court.Volume 1:The first register is titled on the front cover Foster Care and Adoption Registrations. The register covers the period 3 July 1967 to 17 June 1980, and records the details of files numbered from 1 through to 18089.Numbers are not consecutive. The initial pages consist of photocopied sheets glued into the bound register.The registers contents are arranged into columns, which list the following information: date of creation, file number, applicant name and place of residence, and file type. Some variations occur: not all pages include date of creation, some pages include the full address of the person and some pages contain only solicitor adoptions.A key inside the front cover provides information on the file types indicated by columns within the register:A = Adoptive Applicants (including Special Needs)I/C = Inter-CountryMisc = MiscellaneousNW = Non-wardRel. = Extra-Departmental (Solicitors' cases)Information recorded in columns in the first register: date of application, file number, applicant name, columns for type of application: application to adopt, application for foster care, non-ward adoption, extra-departmental, miscellaneous informationAt several times, large groups of numbers were allocated in Volume 1 only to Extra-Departmental (Solicitor) files. These were entered in red ink, and provided the names of the child, applicant and suburb, and solicitor. It has not been established why large sequential groups of numbers were allocated to a single file type. Each block of entries relating to solicitor arranged adoptions may have been entered retrospectively at one time.In the second register, five file types were noted between 1980-1983:- Applicants- Inter-Country- Miscellaneous- Non-ward- Relative / Extra-DepartmentalThe 'Applicant' type of file was registered under several names; between 1983 and 1990, this file type was known alternatively as 'adopt', 'list 1', or 'applicants'.Volume 2:The second register does not have any titling information on the front cover or front pages.The register records files created from 1980 to 1990, numbered from 18090 to 25635.The second register is identified by blue tape on the spine, marked with the word Applicants. There is evidence that the full original title may have been erased.Some later entries in volume two refer to ward number and applicant number, rather than personal names, eg: 'Ward 102-5-450 placed with 24797'.A = Adoptive Applicants (including Special Needs)I/C = Inter-CountryMisc = MiscellaneousNW = Non-wardRel. = Extra-Departmental (Solicitors' cases)From 1986, no Inter-Country file types were registered. It was around this time that the management of Inter-Country Adoptions and applications was taken up by a separate administration unit with a separate recordkeeping system.The Temporary Foster Care category was not included after 1977.