Series MS-0431 - 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.