The Child Welfare Branch of the Department of Education was responsible for giving practical assistance to large or needy families and was now solely responsible for the ‘Needy Families’ scheme.[i] Work included supervising children from the Pacific Islands resident in New Zealand and British children evacuated to New Zealand during WW2, checking on the welfare of children from broken marriages, and investigating applications for various pensions. This transformed the Child Welfare Branch from an agency of child welfare to one of social welfare.[ii] There were now psychologists in the Department’s offices in all main centres.[iii]> The Child Welfare Amendment Act 1948 renamed the Branch as the Child Welfare Division.[iv]
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content Bronwyn Dalley, Family Matters, Wellington, 1998, p. 158.
- [ii] go to main content Dalley, 1998, p. 95.
- [iii] go to main content Dalley, 1998, p. 99.
- [iv] go to main content Dalley, 1998, p. 172.