“25 years of working for better” captures the key aspects of AV’s progress over 25 years: the amalgamation of 130 years of Anglican welfare services into one modern agency; the innovation and evolution of care that our teams have driven, and most importantly, the individual journeys that our front-line staff have shared with Victoria’s vulnerable children, young people, and families.
Anglicare Victoria’s 25th Anniversary remembers the milestones of the last 25 years, celebrating them and the foundations that helped us provide better care for our clients today.
Milestone 1: The creation of Anglicare Victoria
On 1 July 1997, three welfare providers became one. The result was Anglicare Victoria (AV), which turns 25 in 2022. The merger brought the expertise of three long-running and highly experienced Anglican welfare agencies together under a single organisation: The Mission to the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne (established 1886), The Mission of St James and St John (1919) and St John’s Home for Boys and Girls (1921).
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Milestone 2: Building on strong foundations with Anglican parishes and dioceses
From the beginning, Anglicare Victoria’s (AV) partnerships with Anglican parishes and dioceses across the state have played a vital role in the delivery of care and support to where it’s needed most.
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Milestone 3: Addressing the hurt from our past
When Anglicare Victoria (AV) formed in 1997, and integrated St Luke’s in 2014, Anglicare Victoria took over the responsibility for all the programs of our three founding agencies, including former children's homes and institutions.
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Milestone 4: We grew with vision and purpose
As Anglicare Victoria (AV) has grown in size – expanding five-fold in the last ten years alone – the organisation has evolved its vision and purpose to best serve vulnerable Victorians. Since taking the role of CEO in 2010, Paul McDonald has worked closely with AV’s Board and the Church to build the organisation’s expertise and drive innovation.
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Milestone 5: 25 years of caring in the homes of foster and kinship families
Anglicare Victoria (AV) and its foundation organisations have a long history of caring for children and young people on behalf of the state and their parents. Now 25 years later, on any given night, AV has over 700 children and young people in our care.
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Milestone 6: Joining forces to expand care across Victoria
St Luke’s Anglicare was established in 1979 by the Anglican Diocese of Bendigo with the support of the Uniting Church. Over 30 years, St Luke’s grew to be a key provider of care services in Victoria’s north-west.
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Milestone 7: Delivered best practice care to vulnerable people
As Anglicare Victoria (AV) has evolved, we have focused on using evidence to deliver the highest standard of care to vulnerable children, young people and families.
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Milestone 8: Victoria’s pre-eminent parenting organisation for over 25 years
Anglicare Victoria (AV) understands that if parents and carers are confident in their parenting skills and have tried and tested tools at their disposal, that positive change can happen in families.
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Milestone 9: 25 years of developing leading programs for families
Anglicare Victoria (AV) has historically adapted international evidence-based models locally, but more recently we have developed our own from the ground up – and have been recognised internationally for it.
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Milestone 10: Became a leader in preventing violence in the family home
Over the last 25 years, Anglicare Victoria’s (AV’s) commitment to preventing harm and reducing family violence has helped it grow to become one of the state’s leading providers of the Men’s Behaviour Change program.
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Milestone 11: Anglicare Victoria bringing specialist services to those who need them
Anglicare Victoria (AV) has expanded its financial counselling services over the last 25 years to the point where it is now the largest provider in Victoria, helping record numbers of families and individuals who have been pushed into financial hardship and insecurity.
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Milestone 12: 25 years of providing for young people in homes they feel safe in
When it’s no longer possible for a child or young person to live with their own family, Anglicare Victoria’s (AV’s) residential care homes provide a safe, supportive environment where they can grow and thrive.
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Milestone 13: Increased support for victims of family violence
Intimate partner violence causes more illness, disability and death than any other risk factor for women aged 25–44 in Australia . On average one woman is killed every week in Australia by a current or former partner. In response to this ongoing crisis, Anglicare Victoria (AV) offers a range of programs to prevent violence and provide confidential help for victims and those who choose to use violence in the home.
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Milestone 14: Participated in sweeping changes to family violence support
With almost 93,000 incidents of family violence recorded in 2020/21 – and many more unreported – family violence is taking a heavy toll on Victorian communities. In response to the 2015 Royal Commission into Family Violence, Anglicare Victoria (AV) is playing a key role in reforming the way family violence support is delivered to Victorians.
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Milestone 15: A leading advocate and change maker for the vulnerable
With CEO Paul McDonald at the helm, AV launched the Home Stretch campaign in 2016. The goal is to extend state care to 21 years in each Australian state and territory.
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Milestone 16: Leaving care program trial successfully funded by social impact bond approach
Seeking new ways to help young people leaving Out-of-Home Care, Anglicare Victoria (AV) partnered with VincentCare Victoria, the Victorian Government and 55 investors in 2018 to launch Compass Leaving Care, Australia’s largest Social Impact Bond.
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Milestone 17: When disaster strikes, Anglicare Victoria has been on the front line for 25 years
Through bushfires, floods, storms and a global pandemic, Anglicare Victoria (AV) has responded with vital services and compassionate care, making sure no one is left behind.
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Milestone 18: Became carbon neutral and committed to sustainability
As an organisation that transforms the futures of vulnerable children, young people and their families, supporting the long-term health of our planet is part of our duty of care to the coming generations.
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Milestone 19: 25 years of embracing our cultural journey
With around 30 per cent of all children in Anglicare Victoria’s (AV) care identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, building a strong framework for reconciliation, cultural safety and empowerment has been a focus of our work over the last 25 years.
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Milestone 20: Working to better support our diverse community
At Anglicare Victoria (AV), we want all of our families and young people to feel loved and included, and we pride ourself on being a diverse and vibrant community. Since its inception, AV has valued – and celebrated – diversity and inclusion. We’re continually evolving policies, services and workplaces to ensure all staff, volunteers and clients feel safe, welcome and free to be their whole selves.
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Milestone 21: Transforming education for children in our care over the last 25 years
Anglicare Victoria (AV) believes that providing a young person with a good education goes hand-in-hand with giving them a good upbringing in care. One example of how Anglicare Victoria (AV) has evolved since it was formed are innovative home-grown programs to support parents and help at-risk young people with their education.
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Milestone 22: Embraced 21st Century technology and systems
Anglicare Victoria (AV) has gone through a rapid technology transformation over the past five years, recognising the power of modern IT tools and systems to transform the way we work in the online and digital data world for the better.
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Milestone 23: We listened and responded to our clients’ voices
Clients with lived experience are experts in how we can deliver services to best meet their needs. In 2019, AV began a journey that would amplify the ability for clients with lived experience to help shape the care we deliver. A more systematic and holistic approach to hearing the voices of our clients and feeding their experience into practice change, service development, advocacy and the ways we do things at AV.
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Milestone 24: We put the spotlight on our clients’ successes
Anglicare Victoria (AV) is focused on transforming the futures of children, young people, families and adults. Our dedicated staff and volunteers work to support clients as they build better futures. Empowering our clients and seeing vulnerable people thrive is not only a deeply rewarding aspect of our work, it’s the measure by which AV judges its own success.
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Milestone 25: Demonstrating inspiring dedication – day after day
From exceptional leaders to inspiring front-line workers, at every level Anglicare Victoria’s (AV’s) people are its greatest asset. United in the mission to create better tomorrows for families, children and young people, our diverse and skilled staff work behind-the-scenes to serve their communities and deliver transformative care across the state.
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