This paper traces the history of child welfare in Victoria, from the formation of the Children's Welfare Department to the present time. It draws principally upon the Annual Reports of the responsible state government department, to illustrate trends in out-of-home placement for children and young people admitted to care. It describes substantial shifts in direction to the institutions in the 1960s, deinstitutionalisation of the 1980s, and the re-emergence of home-based care as a favoured, economical option.

The paper traces the ebbs and flows in numbers, periods of overcrowding and the current reduced number of children and young people in care. It notes events impacting on evolving child welfare history in Victoria, the child migration program, building projects, the establishment of family group homes, regionalisation, external review, the Children and Young Persons Act (1989), and mandatory reporting legislation. Themes emerging include: early child welfare as a period of rescue and reform; the monitoring of standards and re-entry of the department to residential care; the building of institutions and rising numbers in care; redevelopment and the emergence of a community focus; the expansion of child protection; and the phasing out of old models and the search for cost efficient alternatives.

A challenge for the 1990s is the need for deliberate and planned monitoring and evaluation as institutional and residential care give way to home-based care, and numbers of admissions decrease. The paper aims to provide useful, historical material for readers with an interest in child welfare work which would benefit from a descriptive review of the past.