The Child Welfare Act 1925 expunged the term ‘industrial school’ from the Education Department vocabulary.[i] The legislation caught up with, rather than set, a new welfare policy for children.[ii] It created a separate system of juvenile justice through children’s courts for those under 16 years. The establishment of children's courts changed the Division's function to that of a preventive and treatment agency, rather than a punitive one.[iii] It legislated the establishment of the Child Welfare Branch (CWB) of the Department of Education, operational from 1926, the first semi-autonomous section of a government department devoted exclusively to welfare matters.[iv]
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content Bronwyn Dalley, Family Matters, Wellington, 1998, p. 69.
- [ii] go to main content Dalley, 1998, p. 90.; Margaret Tennant, The Fabric of Welfare: Voluntary Organisations, Government, and Welfare in New Zealand, 1840–2005, 2007, p. 103.
- [iii] go to main content Department of Social Welfare, Social Welfare Today, Wellington, 1980, p. 4.
- [iv] go to main content Dalley, 1998, p. 8.; The April report: report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy’, Volume 1: New Zealand Today, New Zealand Royal Commission on Social Policy, Wellington, 1988, pp. 23–24.