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Back Issues: From institution to foster care

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Description: Local historians weekly "Back Issues" article in the Manawatū Standard. For more than half a century, All Saints' Children's home was a refuge for children who had nowhere else to go. The home was owned by the All Saints' Children's Home Trust. The original home on the corner of Ada and Ferguson Streets took its first three children in October 1906. A new, larger home opened on the corner of Pascal and Cuba Streets in 1931. A steady stream of children were cared for. They were often from families that had broken down, where parents had to work and the home provided childcare.
By the 1960s, the children's home model was outdated. Government preferred crises care to be provided by family units, or "natural family substitutes". The Trust which ran the children's homes continued. In 2022, the Trust is part of ACROSS - Anglican, Catholic and Community Support Service. It provides social work, counselling and foster care services for families.