Former Residents of Children's Homes
The Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney has owned and operated many children's homes for babies, children, and young persons.
These homes were operated by a variety of Sydney diocesan organisations, often with similar names. Most of these homes are now closed. Most of their governing organisations were (at various times) merged into the administrative structure of the Sydney Anglican Home Mission Society (SAHMS). SAHMS still exists for the purposes of storing some records, and responding to any issues that arise from these homes. SAHMS now falls under the auspices of Anglican Community Services.
Specific individual files of persons who were residents in these children’s homes (Care Leavers) are not held by the Sydney Diocesan Archives. The majority of the files about individual Care Leavers are held and managed by Anglicare’s Care Leaver Archive Officer.
The Sydney Diocesan Archives holds some of the administrative records created by the governing bodies of these children’s homes. Limited incidental personal information relating to residents in the homes appears in these records.
Anglicare frequently assists Care Leavers, and their descendants, with provision of access to individual Care Leaver files and other relevant records. However, not all of the files from all of the homes have survived. Some homes are well represented in the records, while some homes have few surviving files. Some files are quite extensive, some have only a few pages.