Child welfare--British Columbia

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Child welfare--British Columbia

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Child welfare--British Columbia

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Child welfare--British Columbia

40 Archival description results for Child welfare--British Columbia

40 results directly related Exclude narrower terms

Administrative files

  • GR-2918
  • Series
  • 1951-1974

Files of the Departmental Comptroller relating to the Children's Aid Society of Vancouver, the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Vancouver and the Children's Aid Society of Victoria including annual budgets, financial statements and reports and correspondence with the Societies.

British Columbia. Dept. of Human Resources. Departmental Comptroller

Admissions case files

  • GR-2733
  • Series
  • 1898, 1903-1938

Case files for children admitted to the Alexandra Non Sectarian Orphanage and Children's Home in Vancouver.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Autobiographical account of childhood in Kettle Valley and other material

Autobiographical account of childhood in Kettle Valley, 1909-1919; correspondence concerning Laura Holland Scholarship Fund at the University of British Columbia, 1950-1956; and notes re: Vancouver Children's Aid Society and other child welfare organizations. Also includes minutes and correspondence of the British Columbia Board of Governors of the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School, 1946-1949.

Angus, Annie Margaret

Children's Aid Society of Victoria records

In 1895, the Local Council of Women of Victoria formed the Friendly Help Association "to assist families in distress." The F.H.A. was virtually the first private organization especially devoted to social welfare work in Victoria. On 20 June 1901, the Children's Aid Society of Victoria was incorporated under provisions of the "Children's Protection Act" (Chap. 9.9, 1901, B.C. Statutes) by the action of fourteen Victoria women. In 1901, the first home for children was established on Fern Street. A succession of homes were managed by the C.A.S. until 1933, when the home, then on Pandora Street, was condemned and the society turned to the placing of children in foster homes.

Meanwhile, in 1912 the Social Service Commission was formed by the Ministerial Association for "the betterment of social, moral and industrial conditions.'' In 1923, the name changed to the Social Service League. In 1933, the Social Service League amalgamated with the Friendly Help Association to form the Friendly Help Welfare Association, later in 1938 changed to the Family Welfare Association.

In 1931, to combat the depression, the Victoria Citizens Unemployment Relief Fund (The Mayor's Fund) was established. Three years later, the Friendly Help Welfare Association took over the work of the Mayor's Fund. In 1947, the Family Welfare Association and the Children's Aid Society amalgamated. In 1951, the amalgamated organization, still officially in the Children's Aid Society of Victoria, named its program the Family and Children's Service, and operated under that rubric until 1973 when the organization was absorbed by the Department of Human Resources.

Account books, annual reports, clippings, correspondence, executive reports, journals, memoranda, minutes and statistical data of the Society and of social service organizations amalgamated with or absorbed by the Society.

Family and Children's Aid Service (Victoria, B.C.)

Children's Aid Society, Vancouver registers

Registers of Vancouver C.A.S.: (1) Admissions, 1901-1912 (including C.A.S. of Victoria and C.A.S. of the Holy Rosary); (2) Children in C.A.S. Home, 1901-1927; (3) Committed children, 1927-1928; and (4) Non-committed children, 1927-1928; boarders not previously entered in register; and all non-committed children in C.A.S. Home at end of July, 1927 (transferred from old register).

Children's Aid Society (Vancouver, B.C.)

Children's Overseas Reception Board case files

  • GR-0297
  • Series
  • 1940-1947

The series consists of records created by the Child Welfare Division between 1940 and 1947. The records include case files, arranged alphabetically by surname of the individual case, of the Children's Overseas Reception Board, under the direction of the Superintendent of Child Welfare. Accompanying this series is a numeric file register dated 2 May 1941 including the following headings: overseas (#7000-8999; 10,000-12,999), miscellaneous (#9000-9999; 13,000-14,999), general (#15,000-19,000), and adoptions (#5,000-6,999; 19,430).

British Columbia. Child Welfare Division

Correspondence and other material

Series consists of correspondence inward, sermons and addresses, pamphlets and newspaper clippings pertaining to mental health services, and a brief entitled "Home For Emotionally Disturbed Children" prepared in 1956 by the Canadian Association of Social Workers and a Joint Committee of the Community Chest and Council of Greater Vancouver.

Correspondence and other material

  • GR-2720
  • Series
  • 1941-1958

The series consists of subject files of the Family Services Division including correspondence and reports on many programs, such as Mother's Allowances, and institutions, such as the Vancouver Preventorium. The files also include correspondence of the Director of Welfare.

The Family Services Division was established within the Social Assistance Branch of the Department of the Provincial Secretary in 1944 to provide service in cases in which no financial aid was required.

British Columbia. Dept. of Health and Welfare. Social Welfare Branch

Department of Human Resources case files sample

  • GR-0130
  • Series
  • ca.1945-1972

This series consists of a systematic sample of early case files including some of the earliest applications for the Old Age Assistance, Disabled Persons Allowance and Blind Persons Allowance programs; case files from the Island Youth Centre; and files representing the generalized case loads of the regions, including social allowance, pensions, boarding and nursing homes, foster homes, unmarried mothers, and all matters that were dealt with by the Welfare Field Service.

In January 1975, E.L. Northup, the Associate Deputy Minister, sent out an operational directive (No. 201974/75) to all Regional Directors, District Supervisors, Municipal Administrators, Divisional and Institutional Heads and Senior Administration, requesting that the various offices send a random sample of their files inactive since 31 December 1966, to the Provincial Archives.

The sampling instructions were to "select every 5th file from each group until the sample is complete". A certain number of files were requested from each Region, the Island Youth Centre and the Division of Aging. Although the instructions were to sample only from files inactive since 31 December 1966, some of the files received do include material up to 1972.

Region 2 - 25
Region 3 - 15
Region 4 - 15
Region 5 - 40
Region 6 - 25
Region 7 - 15
Region 8 - 15
Region 9 - 15
Region 10 - 20
Region 11 - 50
Island Youth Centre - 10
Division of Aging - 25 of each case category cited (B.P.A., D.P.A., S.A., O.A.S.)

Although the instructions were to sample only from files inactive since 31 December 1966, some of the files received do include material up to 1972.

This collection includes some of the earliest applications for the Old Age Assistance, Disabled Persons Allowance and Blind Persons Allowance programs. It includes case files from the Island Youth Centre. It also includes files representing the generalized case loads of the regions, which usually include social allowance, pensions, boarding and nursing homes, foster homes, unmarried mothers, and all matters that were dealt with by the Welfare Field Service.

British Columbia. Dept. of Human Resources

Department of Rehabilitation and Social Improvement executive records

  • GR-0746
  • Series
  • 1967-1978; predominant 1971-1973

This series consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports and minutes of meetings of the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Dept. of Rehabilitation and Social Improvement, predominantly from 1971-1973.

British Columbia. Dept. of Rehabilitation and Social Improvement. Assistant Deputy Minister

Department of Social Welfare executive records

  • GR-0135
  • Series
  • 1966-1968

The series consists of files created by the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare. They are arranged in alphabetical order and include correspondence, memoranda, reports and minutes of meetings of the Deputy Minister.

British Columbia. Dept. of Social Welfare

Deputy Provincial Secretary records

  • GR-0497
  • Series
  • 1930-1946

This series consists of the personal files of the Deputy Provincial Secretary, Paschal de Noe Walker, 1930-1946. Records deal with health and welfare facilities (hospitals, industrial schools, etc.), social services, elections, libraries, museums and a variety of other programmes and services administered by the Provincial Secretary's department.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Fairbridge Farm School administrative records

Administrative records of Fairbridge Farm School, a residential training centre for underprivileged British children located near Duncan, B.C. Includes correspondence, reports, newsletters and case files of Fairbridgians (student trainees), 1935-1949. Also includes operational records re: agricultural work on the farm site and records re: English immigrant families who leased farm cottages between 1950 and 1960.

The Fairbridge Farm School was part of a philanthropic scheme aimed at strengthening the British Empire and improving the condition of underprivileged British children. The scheme was conceived by Kingsley Ogilvie Fairbridge (l885-l924), a South African-born reformer who was raised in southern Rhodesia. On first visiting England in 1902 Fairbridge was struck by the over-crowding and poverty in large industrial cities; he was also appalled by the condition of working-class children who lived in unhealthy, unstable homes in city slums. In 1909, having returned to England as a Rhodes scholar, he outlined his plans for saving these children to a group of fellow students at the Oxford University Colonial Club. Fairbridge's plan was to resettle selected British children in the overseas dominions. There, in a rural environment, children would live together in cottages within a village-like setting. Girls would receive training in domestic pursuits, while boys would be trained in manual arts and agriculture. Vocational training was to be supplemented with moral guidance and leavened with recreational pursuits in such a way that the young emigrants would be able to take their places as productive citizens in the host communities. Fairbridge's proposal led to the founding of the "Society for the Furtherance of Child Emigration to the Colonies," afterwards incorporated as the Child Emigration Society [CES]. The society raised £2,000 and in 1913 the first "farm school" was opened in Western Australia. Other training farms (which were supported by grants from the British and Australian governments and by private donations) were later established in the states of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.

Kingsley Fairbridge had hoped originally to open a farm school in Canada. Ten years after his death - when the CES was reconstituted as Fairbridge Farm Schools (Inc.) - his wish was realized. Encouraged by Canadian enthusiasts, an appeal was launched to help bring the farm school concept to the Dominion. The appeal was led by the Prince of Wales and sufficient funds were raised to purchase a 1,100 acre site at Cowichan Station, near Duncan, on Vancouver Island. The new facility - officially named The Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School - opened in 1935. The first principal of the farm school was Major F. Trew who held the position from April 1935 to May 1936. Trew's successor was Colonel H.T. Logan, a contemporary of Kingsley Fairbridge at Oxford and a former professor of Classics at the University of British Columbia. Logan resigned in June 1945 to join the staff of the Fairbridge Society headquarters in London. He was succeeded as principal of the Prince of Wales farm school by Mr. W.J. Garnett (July 1945 - January 1949) and Major A.H. Plows (February 1949 - January 1951.) The Fairbridge Farm School consisted of fourteen cottages, each capable of accommodating a dozen children and a resident "cottage mother". Other buildings included the principal's residence, staff quarters, a chapel, a hospital, and a school. These facilities - which were adjacent to the school's large dairy farm - were maintained with the help of subscriptions from England and a grant from the British Columbia government. Funds were also raised throughout the province and in 1938 Captain J.C. Dun-Waters donated his 2,000 acre orchard near Vernon to the Fairbridge Society. Named the Fintry Fairbridge Training Farm, the Okanagan property was run in conjunction with the main centre on Vancouver Island.

Over three hundred children passed through Fairbridge Farm School during its first ten years of operation. But after the Second World War a number of problems arose which placed the future of the school in doubt. Among these was the unfavourable dollar/sterling exchange rate, the post-war monetary controls which restricted funds from Britain, and the provincial government's decision to discontinue its operating grant. The whole concept of institutionalized child care was also being questioned in many quarters and after the passing of the 1948 Child Welfare Act in Britain [which made local authorities responsible for child care] there was no longer a need for juvenile resettlement on a large scale. Accordingly, the Fairbridge Society reluctantly decided to wind up its operations in British Columbia. The Fintry estate was sold and in the early 1950s the last of the Fairbridge "trainees" left the Prince of Wales Farm School. For the next ten years the Cowichan Station site was managed on behalf of the Fairbridge Society by the Canada Colonization Association. A subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the association leased the farm school cottages to newly-arrived English immigrant families. The arrangement was eventually discontinued and in 1975 the farm school was sold to a Victoria real estate firm. The property is now the site of a residential housing development.

Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School

Fairbridge Farm School Alumni Association papers

Records of the Fairbridge Alumni Association and predecessor organization, Old Fairbridgian Association. Members of the association were formerly trainees at the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School, ca. 1935-1951. Records include correspondence (1946-1975), minutes (1947-1970), newsletters and gazettes (1950-1954), constitution and financial reports 1964-1974), account books and receipts, and addresses of alumni, ca. 1953-1962. The records were maintained by the Rev. Thomas E. Speed, a Fairbridge alumnus. Photographs transferred to Visual Records Division.

Fairbridge Alumni Association

Fairbridge Farm School Alumni Association papers

Newspaper cuttings concerning Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School and Old Fairbridgians, ca. 1934-1983; copies of provincial government statutes and regulations re: welfare institutions, etc., 1937-1948; correspondence to Miss Katie O'Neill (farm school cottage mother), 1936-1941, 1960. Also a photocopy of a certificate from the Fairbridge Society in Britain to the Fairbridge Alumni Association, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Fairbridge Farm School at Cowichan Station. 1 leaf.

Fairbridge Alumni Association

Indigent Fund administration files

  • GR-0289
  • Series
  • 1914-1933 [predominant 192-]

The series consists of records created by the Deputy Provincial Secretary between 1914 and 1933 pertaining to the administration of funds for the "aid of the destitute, poor, and sick."

Between 1872 and 1942, an annual vote of funds was included in the estimates of the B.C. legislature. The fund, which was administered by the Office of the Provincial Secretary, originally contained $500. By 1935, this figure had risen to $110,000; but in the fund's final year of existence, 1943, the vote of funds had declined to $40,000.

The Indigent Fund, unlike the Mother's Pension, the Old Age Pension (1927), or the Veterans Assistance plans was not tied to an Act of Parliament, and thus relief was provided to people under a wide range of circumstances, and included many who failed to qualify for assistance under specific federal or provincial schemes. The fund was designed to meet the immediate and shortterm needs of rural B.C. residents (municipalities had their own funds) who through misfortune or bad planning had found themselves without "the necessities of life." The key to the fund, until the early 1930s, when the position of Superintendent of Welfare was created, was the Deputy Provincial Secretary, for it was often at his discretion that assistance was provided. He was aided in his duties by the various Government Agents, who were responsible for handling vouchers, disbursing cheques, and reporting to Victoria any new developments in individual cases. They, in turn, were assisted by Provincial Police constables who usually investigated each case and submitted a report.

The records consist of correspondence inward and outward from the Deputy Provincial Secretary's office; correspondence from Government Agents to the Deputy Provincial Secretary; Provincial Police reports on the condition of Indigents; correspondence from indigents or persons representing them to the Premier, Ministers, and the Deputy Provincial Secretary; and miscellaneous correspondence to and from various government departments and agencies such as Workman's Compensation Board, Department of Immigration, public hospitals, police departments etc.

The files are arranged alphabetically by the last name of the indigent. They are not, however, arranged alphabetically within each folder. There are two alphabetical series, as well as two sets of files titled "miscellaneous". All files have been preserved in their original order.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Inspector of Municipalities records with regard to children's aid societies

  • GR-0227
  • Series
  • 1910-1920

The series consists of records created by the Inspector of Municipalities between 1910 and 1920 relating to infant protection. It includes correspondence inward and outward of the Inspector of Municipalities related to Children's Aid Societies; monthly statements, annual reports, statutory declarations and expense vouchers of Children's Aid Societies in Vancouver and Victoria, and papers pertaining to Infants' Protection.

In 1897 the British Columbia legislature adopted the "Guardian's Appointment Act" (61 Vict., c. 96) relating to the custody and care of infants. Further, in 1901, the legislature passed the "Children's Protection Act" (1 Ed. 7, c. 9) providing for the incorporation of Children's Aid Societies and for the appointment of a Superintendent. The Provincial Secretary was charged with the administration of this statute and "An Act to Regulate Maternity Boarding Houses, and for the Protection of Infant Children", passed in the same year (1 Ed. 7, c. 29). This latter act required the registration of houses for reception of infants as well as the registration of every infant in the care of such institutions. In 1911 the "Infants Act" was passed consolidating and amending legislation relating to infants (2 Geo. 5, c. 107). In 1918 the "Infants Act" was amended to provide for a Superintendent of Neglected Children who would, among other duties, make annual reports to the Attorney General. Administration of the Act was transferred from the Provincial Secretary to the Attorney General by section 14 of the Act (8 Geo. 5, c. 36) and the Superintendent's first Annual Report was submitted on 30 November 1920.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Attorney-General. Inspector of Municipalities

Margaret Trenchard child welfare records

The file consists of pamphlets, brochures, booklets, reports, and backgrounders on child welfare. These records appear to have been collected and used by Margaret L. Trenchard. The file covers a variety of child welfare institutions, including the Children's Aid Society, the Bishop Cridge Centre for the Family, and the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Trenchard, Margaret L.

Memorandum (incomplete) of Social Assistance Branch

  • GR-0636
  • Series
  • 1944

Incomplete memorandum on the Department's Social Assistance Branch, prepared by E.W. Griffith, Assistant Deputy Provincial Secretary.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Minister of Human Resources records

  • GR-0866
  • Series
  • 1977-1978

This series consists of the Minister of Human Resources records, 1977-1978. Records include the Minister's correspondence, memoranda, reports, and subject files. Files arranged alphabetically. Subject files include adoption, daycare, municipal offices, regional offices and Alderlea Lodge (King George Rest Home).

British Columbia. Ministry of Human Resources. Minister

Neglected children case files

  • GR-2738
  • Series
  • 1916-1945

The series consists of files of the Superintendent of Neglected Children, including correspondence and a report relating to an investigation of the Victoria Children's Aid Society in 1919-1920; two reports: "Married women in employment Port Alberni and Alberni" and "Recreation and Accommodation" prepared in 1942, and a series of case files relating to individual children, 1916-1945.

British Columbia. Superintendent of Neglected Children

Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School. Cowichan Station.

Documents pertaining to Fairbridge Farm School, a residential and educational community for underprivileged British children, located near Duncan. Includes visitors books (1935-1953) and roll book of Fairbridge school staff (1935-1950). Also includes scrapbook and diary of school nurse, Margaret (nee King) Minchen (1940-1942). Photographs transferred to Visual Records accession 198706-2.

Presented by the Fairbridge Alumni Association, 1985.

Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School

Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School. Cowichan Station.

Loose pages from Punishment Book kept at Fairbridge Farm School (Cowichan Station, B.C.) by duties master, ca. 1944-1946. Sheets record punishments given to Fairbridge children for offences and infractions. Also prospectus of Fairbridge Farm Schools Society, ca. 1935. Printed pamphlets transferred to Library and Maps Division; photographs transferred to Visual Records accession., 198706-2.

Received from the Fairbridge Alumni Association, 1987.

Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School

Provincial Child Care Facilities Licensing Board administrative records

  • GR-2674
  • Series
  • 1971-1979

In 1969 the Community Care Facilities Licensing Act replaced the Welfare Institutions Licensing Act in regulating private care facilities in the province. The next year the responsibility for the supervision and administration of the act was transferred from the Department of Rehabilitation and Social Improvement to the Health Branch of the Department of Health Services and Hospital Insurance, along with the chief inspector and his staff.

The Provincial Child Care Facilities Licensing Board came into being ca. 1976 when the Community Care Facilities Licensing Board split into two boards; adult care and child care boards. Membership on the board included staff of the Department of Health, Department of Human Resources, Department of Education and community representatives.

These records are files of the staff of the Provincial Child Care Facilities Licensing Board (earlier the Community Care Facilities Division). The files include correspondence of the executive officer of the board.

British Columbia. Ministry of Health (1976-2001)

Provincial Child Care Facilities Licensing Board records

  • GR-2667
  • Series
  • 1968-1979

In 1969 the Community Care Facilities Licensing Act replaced the Welfare Institutions Licensing Act regulating private care facilities in the province. The following year responsibility for the supervision and administration of the Act was transferred from the Department of Rehabilitation and Social Improvement to the Health Branch of the Department of Health Services and Hospital Insurance, as was the Chief Inspector and his staff.

The Provincial Child Care Facilities Licensing Board was instituted about 1976, when the Community Care Facilities Licensing Board was split into the Adult Care and the Child Care Boards. Members on the board included staff of the Department of Health, Department of Human Resources, Department of Education as well as community representatives.

These records consist of files created and received by the Provincial Child Care Facilities Licensing Board (previously the Community Care Facilities Board). They include correspondence with universities and colleges in B.C. relating to the topic of early childhood education and day care supervision courses. They also contain general correspondence with school districts and health units.

British Columbia. Ministry of Health (1976-2001)

Provincial Home for Girls case files and other material

  • GR-3020
  • Series
  • 1914-1969

This series includes six case files (1914-1920), one pamphlet, four news clippings (1956-1969) and one letter regarding the school. Also known as Willingdon School for Girls.

Provincial Industrial Home for Girls

Provincial Industrial School for Boys records

  • GR-0491
  • Series
  • 1919-1977

This series consists of Provincial Industrial School for Boys records, 1919-1977. Records include correspondence of the principal of the school 1926-1942, case summaries of students 1970-1977 and lists of students 1919-1977. For the period 1974-1977, females are listed as well as males.

Provincial Industrial School for Boys

Provincial secretary correspondence

  • GR-0344
  • Series
  • 1917-1926

This series consists of correspondence inward and outward, and interdepartmental memos of the Provincial Secretary, pertaining to provincial mental health care institutions, mothers' pensions, child welfare, and adoption laws from 1918-1926.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Provincial Secretary executive records

  • GR-0496
  • Series
  • 1929-1947

This series consists of executive records of the Provincial Secretary, covering a wide variety of topics. The Provincial Secretary's department was responsible for a broad range of legislation and activities - including the civil service, provincial elections and (until 1946) health and welfare services. These records comprise part of the former Provincial Secretary's Central Registry. This registry consisted of general correspondence, policy directives, branch reports, inter-departmental memoranda, circulars, grant applications, and a host of miscellaneous documents.

The finding aid consists of two parts. Part I is a box/file list showing the original order and arrangement of the records. The records fall into six categories or subseries:

A. General correspondence: correspondence inward (with replies), reports, circulars, etc.
B. Appointments: correspondence, commissions, oaths of allegiance of coroners, magistrates, and other appointed officials.
C. Resident Physicians: correspondence re: grants paid to physicians in isolated communities
D. Grants: correspondence and reports pertaining to grants paid to various community groups and charitable organizations, service clubs, etc.
E. Workmen's Compensation Board: circulars, etc.
F. Contemporary card indexes: alphabetical subject index cards. Part II: Subject Index

Part II of this finding aid consists of a subject index compiled by the Provincial Archives of BC. The index indicates the main topics or subject areas - e.g. Provincial Infirmary, Elections, Industrial Schools, etc. which are documented in GR-0496. The index does not claim to be comprehensive or exhaustive, but it should help researchers to locate documents which concern particular institutions or activities.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

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