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Post Care Services

Last Updated Sep 2008

Street address:
Level 1, 45 Wakefield Street
Adelaide SA 5000
Postal address:
GPO Box 292
Adelaide SA 5001
Opening hours: 8.45 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday
Phone: 1800 188 118 (freecall)
Phone: 8207 2653
Email: postcare@dfc.sa.gov.au

Home » Families and young people » Post care services
The Department for Families and Communities (DFC) is now the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI). The department is currently reviewing its online information and updates will be implemented soon.
You can still find departmental information using the search function on this site. For more information about South Australian government services please visit www.sa.gov.au.

Former State Wards or Guardianship of the Minister children

Last Updated Feb 2010

Wards of the State or people who were placed under the Guardianship of the Minister may have been adopted by foster parents. Often, no formal adoption took place but the child took the surname of the foster parents.

The Adoption and Family Information Service (AFIS) can access and provide information drawn from the subject's file under the Freedom of Information Act. If there is a Departmental file in your name as a Ward of the State - or in the name of a family member whose file you believe you are entitled to access - you can apply for access by:

  • Printing off the Request for Access under the Freedom of Information Act 1991 form. See Adoption forms
  • Completing it; and
  • Posting it to AFIS

Please note: AFIS cannot accept the form electronically.

AFIS will make sure you receive all the information you are entitled to.

If you were once a Ward of the State, placed under the "Guardianship of the Minister" or previously in care and are now in need of help in relation to this, Post Care Services may be able to help you. See Post care services.

Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) also provides support for former State Wards, foster children or children raised in Children's Homes, orphanages or institutions.

Self-Help Guides

Finding Your Own Way is a self-help guide for tracing family links in the indigenous community and requiring access to existing records of South Australian children's homes and institutions.

Finding Your Story, a similar guide prepared for Victorians is available through the Public Record Office of Victoria (Government of Victoria) website.

The Commission of Inquiry (Children in State Care - “Mullighan Inquiry”) gave its report to the South Australian Government in the week beginning 31 March 2008. PDF copies of the report are available for download at the Mullighan Inquiry website, which also provides other information.